Martin Aircraft Co. Debuts Personal Jetpack; To Sell For $100,000 In '09

Oshkosh, WI (AHN) - Hundreds of fans and flight enthusiasts at AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin were wowed on Tuesday as a New Zealand family debuted the Martin Jetpack, dubbed the "ultimate personal flying machine."

Inventor Glenn Martin says the device, which can fly a 280 lbs passenger for 30 minutes, is "the world's first practical jetpack." After spending 27 years developing the jetpack, the 48-year-old Glenn has involved his wife Vanessa and his two sons. Harrison, 16, test flew the jetpack Tuesday at the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) AirVenture 2008.

"At first the jetpack dream for me was like a lot of people," Martin told spectators. "When I was 5-years-old, I was watching the 'Jetsons,' 'Lost in Space' and all those television shows, and I wanted a jetpack. Unfortunately, by the time I turned 21, I realized there weren't any jetpacks around."

"So I started researching it and found out why. What I found out was that Bell had been researching it and developed this fantastic vehicle called the Bell Rocket Belt, which we've all seen on TV and in movies. But it had a few limitations. It could only fly for 27 seconds with a full tank of gas; the fuel that it used was very dangerous, in fact, it was so dangerous that NASA stopped using it. All the pilots who flew it weighed about 160 lbs, I weigh 220 lbs, so it was never going to work for me," Martin explained.

"So with far too much time on my hands at university, I decided to research it and design something that would solve all those problems. After 27 years and 11 prototypes, we've got to the point now where all those issues are gone. We've now got something where you can strap on and fly for up to 30 minutes," Martin said.

After the introduction, Harrison flew a few feet off the ground for almost a minute, after Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials only cleared the jetpack to hold a hovering test for the show.

AirVenture, which ends Sunday August 3, is "the world's greatest aviation celebration," and brings in over 2,500 planes of all makes and models, as well as hundreds of thousands of flight enthusiasts from around the world.