33 Seconds Of Pure Rocket-Powered Flight

Jet packs -- that is, real ones -- generally suffer from very short endurance. The longest flight of the original Bell rocket belt was just 26 seconds. A newer, lighter, carbon-fiber design using hydrogen peroxide rockets, has upped that record to 33 seconds.

Yeah, we know, that doesn't seem like a real great improvement... but it was long enough to stage a spectacular demonstration last year on Monday Night Football. And just a few months ago, it was long enough to propel pilot Eric Scott 1,500 feet across Colorado's Royal Gorge near Cañon City.

"This is a new jet pack record," Scott told KOAA-5 after landing on-target, despite a last-minute crosswind gust. "The height, 1,053 feet off the floor. 1500 feet across. That is a world record." Scott works for Denver-based Jet P.I. Unlike Bell's rocket belt, which was developed with military applications in mind, the Jet PI jetpack is designed specifically for use in publicity stunts and demo flights.

Scott obviously had great confidence in the machine -- he flew without a parachute. The Royal Gorge drops more than 1,100 feet down to the Arkansas River.

The “Go Fast Jet Pack” has been the vision of Troy Widgery since his childhood memories of James Bond in “Thunderball.” Through his pursuit of speed starting at the age of four racing quarter-midget cars, through his many years as a world-class competitive skydiver, to his current interest in the most extreme of sports, B.A.S.E. jumping; Troy has always had a vision of building a spectacular flying machine – similar to that which James Bond flew on the big screen.

In June 2003 Troy invited two friends, John Hewatt and Dave Butler, to brainstorm on what most people would see as an unobtainable project for the average person – to build a jet pack from scratch. Troy and John formed the company “Jet P.I. LLC” to manage the research, development, construction and future flights of what was going to be the “Go Fast Jet Pack.”

The goal of “Jet PI” was to build a lighter, faster, more economical and longer-flying jet pack than the original built by Bell Aerosystems in the 1960’s, and the successors, which have been based on that model. With incredible passion, determination and an extreme amount of work, combined with modern technologies, materials and engineering, Jet PI is intent on developing the world's most advanced personal flying machines.

Aero-TV Rockets Into The Ether With Jet Pack International

FMI: www.jetpackinternational.com, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews