JetLev: We have our jet pack.... if you wear Speedos.

mikea

mikea

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Being that there are probably already injury liability lawyers watching closely to build lawsuit evidence, we'll never see this in the U.S.


http://www.jetlev.com

Can we anticipate the updated urban legend about the scuba diver swimming in the lake being sucked up and finding himself 100 feet in the air?
 
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mikea said:
Can we anticipate the updated urban legend about the scuba diver swimming in the lake being sucked up and finding himself 100 feet in the air?
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Whaddya mean 'urban legend'????

http://www.firediving.com/

firediving.jpg
 
mikea said:
Being that there are probably already injury liability lawyers watching closely to build lawsuit evidence, we'll never see this in the U.S.

Can we anticipate the updated urban legend about the scuba diver swimming in the lake being sucked up and finding himself 100 feet in the air?
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That thing's pretty cool, but if the suction hose ever comes out of the water, you'd be in trouble quick!


Trapper John
 
Trapper John said:
That thing's pretty cool, but if the suction hose ever comes out of the water, you'd be in trouble quick!


Trapper John
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Looks like it's a pressure hose. Pump is in a floating pod. And you don't have enough thrust to lift that out of the water. I wondered about that watching the video, too. The web site makes it clearer.
 
smigaldi said:
My guess is they sell 10 to 50. Never recover their NRE or investment and go out of business in 3 years.
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Several hundred. Rich dudes who never use it and resorts that rent it out at $250 an hour.

Richard Branson will buy 6 for him and guests at Necker Island.
 
smigaldi said:
My guess is they sell 10 to 50. Never recover their NRE or investment and go out of business in 3 years.
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Hey, people drop $40k on those glitter-ridden bass boats... I'm pretty sure there is a market for a few thousand of these across the world.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
The product's appeal would seem to be along the same lines as parasailing, i.e. something you pay to do on vacation, not something that an individual buys for personal use.

Thing is, making something like that stable enough that you can put a tourist in it would seem to be the challenging part. Of course, the other problem is that the weight of a tourist, hmm, well it varies...
-harry
 
Ghery said:
Looks like it's a pressure hose. Pump is in a floating pod. And you don't have enough thrust to lift that out of the water. I wondered about that watching the video, too. The web site makes it clearer.
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Ahh - that makes more sense. That backpack looked a little small to contain a pump big enough to move enough water and air to keep a full size person up in the air...


Trapper John
 
mantakos said:
The product's appeal would seem to be along the same lines as parasailing, i.e. something you pay to do on vacation, not something that an individual buys for personal use.

Thing is, making something like that stable enough that you can put a tourist in it would seem to be the challenging part. Of course, the other problem is that the weight of a tourist, hmm, well it varies...
-harry
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What I'm saying.

The other thing is it isn't powerful enough for tandem flying so each tourist solos on his first flight. Maybe they can make a sim.
 
mikea said:
What I'm saying.

The other thing is it isn't powerful enough for tandem flying so each tourist solos on his first flight. Maybe they can make a sim.
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Recreational use:
We decided at the outset that jetpacks are not practical for commuting and should primarily be designed for recreation including short term rentals. For that purpose, they must also be very simple to learn and operate. Intuitive flight controls, inherent stability, and an effective training system means that most student pilots can learn to fly solo within a few minutes of in-water instructions.

http://www.jetlev.com/Pages/tech.html
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Oh. ..."aircrafts"
 
I got to do this yesterday. What a blast! I shot 3d movies from a chest mounted camera, I'm editing down the 40 minutes of raw footage to something watchable now.

I got the hang of it in about two minutes. To me it was about on a par with learning to control a jet ski. My wife had a bit more difficulty with hers (I think a big part of it is that she's on the small side of what they rate things things for and her arms really have to reach out to get the controls).

403364_2670806020399_1563591473_32261495_812664748_n.jpg
 
astanley said:
My guess is that is the initial product price point. I wouldn't be surprised to see this fall to ~$50k in 5 or so years.

Cheers,

-Andrew
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Hasn't happened yet, that rig has been out for 5 years and has done nothing but go up in price. Basically it's a jet ski with a hose hooked up to the nozzle.
 
Another one(?) is this "flyboard" which lets you be a dolphin.


It looks to be more versatile and maneuverable. Being that this one is France, the French should ban the other one in 3,2,1,...
 
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