Oshkosh: Kiwi launches $130,000 jetpack: Up, up and away

In article , says...

"GillesK" wrote

To keep you waiting :
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/...ca/jetpack.php

Believe it or not, ABC had a short story and video of it flying at Oshkosh.
They billed it as "an air show in Wisconsin" or was it "an air show in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin?" Nothing to say about how big of a deal Oshkosh is. :-(

It still only flew a few feet off the ground, with a couple people holding
onto the skids for stabilization.

I gotta ask, what is keeping them from having self stabilized flight? It
seems like a couple rate gyros and servos attached to some vanes would have
this thing flying truly solo. For heavens sakes, this is common technology
in the remote control helicopter world, and some other ducted fan RC flying
"thingies" I have seen flying.

I applaud the achievements of him and his machine, but have to wonder why he
has not taken the next step.

Me too - they had another article on NZ news tonight - it didn't look
very impressive to me - hovering a few feet off the ground (is it only
capable of ground effect flight I wonder?), and with guys hanging onto
the landing bars. Hmmm... few more years needed there methinks.

--
Duncan

On Jul 31, 1:26 am, Dave Doe wrote:
In article , says...





"GillesK" wrote

To keep you waiting :
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/...ca/jetpack.php

Believe it or not, ABC had a short story and video of it flying at Oshkosh.
They billed it as "an air show in Wisconsin" or was it "an air show in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin?" Nothing to say about how big of a deal Oshkosh is. :-(

It still only flew a few feet off the ground, with a couple people holding
onto the skids for stabilization.

I gotta ask, what is keeping them from having self stabilized flight? It
seems like a couple rate gyros and servos attached to some vanes would have
this thing flying truly solo. For heavens sakes, this is common technology
in the remote control helicopter world, and some other ducted fan RC flying
"thingies" I have seen flying.

I applaud the achievements of him and his machine, but have to wonder why he
has not taken the next step.

Me too - they had another article on NZ news tonight - it didn't look
very impressive to me - hovering a few feet off the ground (is it only
capable of ground effect flight I wonder?), and with guys hanging onto
the landing bars. Hmmm... few more years needed there methinks.


Well if you consider the hours that the Harrier spent in tethered
flight before it was let loose this machine is doing well.
However, I wouldn't like to be the test pilot.