http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 5:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 5:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 5:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 6:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
That intro is hilarious >_<

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Human catapults. Just as safe, and much more eco-friendly. ]]>Jul 31st 2006 6:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
What happens when you run out of fuel 100 metres in the air? That would be comical to watch. It'll be on YouTube within a month of this thing going out to the public. Watch this space!!!]]>Jul 31st 2006 7:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
All Hail!!!]]>Jul 31st 2006 7:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
On the serious side.. Would love one of those to get to work, I live on the other side of the harbour here from where I work, and there's no bridges, so every day I have to drive all the way around... going OVER would mean less than a 5 minute trip!]]>Jul 31st 2006 7:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
-ended up in the cement pond or something. It was a while ago.]]>Jul 31st 2006 7:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 7:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
You Sir! Make the oil industry HAPPY. :)]]>Jul 31st 2006 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 8:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
Those are 8 turbines from standard R/C jet planes.
At $3,000 each, that rig could be made for $30,000.
(Last year a UK group built a B-52 with 8 burning and it flew spectacularly until they crashed it.)

But since they'll need about 2 gallons of JP4 >EACH]]>Jul 31st 2006 8:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 8:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/.]]>Jul 31st 2006 10:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
You die. Kinda obvious isn't it? :-P ;-)]]>Jul 31st 2006 10:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Feb 19th 2007 12:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Jul 31st 2006 11:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
]]>Aug 1st 2006 12:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/What is this guy's background again?
I read some where that some UK spankhead actually made a jet engine which he retro-fitted on to a grocery cart (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004461787,00.html) I am pretty sure Skywalker Jet's (what a name) price would be substantially lower if he built the engines himself since spankhead made his under 50 UK pounds excluding gas. My two cents. Beam me up Scottie.]]>Aug 1st 2006 1:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 1st 2006 3:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 1st 2006 5:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
Also it might be worth getting the GPS system to have gas stations marked on the map - cos dragging a 90 pound jet pack 5 miles to get your next flight is probably gonna be a pain in the ass.

y'06]]>Aug 1st 2006 6:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
I'll name the obvious few.

BURNING PEOPLE-when this baby gets close to the ground, in lets say....Times Square, New York...or...Shibuya, Tokyo, theres gona be alot of heads of hair set alight....

RUNNING OUT OF FUEL IN THE AIR-most likely to cause death.

DUMB PEOPLE- people can barely drive a car...imagine a jet pack.....they'll be spiralling out into high rise buildings and trees before they can sue the company for thier own idiocy

ok, thatll do for now, if u want mor jus msg...
]]>Aug 1st 2006 7:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Nice. But. I'm waiting for the Bobba Fett edition.

"Lysdexics of the world Untie!"
]]>Aug 1st 2006 7:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Well either this or the Tesla electric car. I wonder if the oil companies helped out with this one?]]>Aug 1st 2006 7:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Of course, all the Xtreme modders out there will want to reconfigure theirs so they can go faster and higher and scare the hell out of the rocketless humans on the street.]]>Aug 1st 2006 9:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
Actually, they didn't try to build a JETpack at all. There were no turbine engines on their device. They used a motor to drive two giant propellers. It was huge and very unstable. This thing looks like it uses small jet engines which would significantly reduce the weight and provide much more lift with more control.]]>Aug 1st 2006 9:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.robinsonheli.com/. New price $209,000. You can get a hell of a lot more airtime for the money. Hey, if you've got 200G to drop, you can afford a helicopter license.]]>Aug 1st 2006 11:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
Nevertheless, I -really- want one.]]>Aug 1st 2006 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 1st 2006 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
Did you ever see the flying segway called the WASP? It was just a single jet engine pointed down, and you lean in the direction you want to go. Saw a picture of it once... go find it.]]>Aug 1st 2006 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
http://www.strange-mecha.com/aircraft/personal/wasp.jpg]]>Aug 1st 2006 1:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 1st 2006 2:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
All he realized was that for $5,000 you buy a 5lb jet turbine that weighs 5lbs, burns 24 oz of fuel a minute and gives up to 50lb thrust. As best I can tell all he did was bought a bunch of them (I expect he'd get a discount for buying in bulk), strapped them together with a big fuel tank and let them rip. Like I said nothing revolutionary.

See:
http://www.robart.com/Jetcat/P200.aspx

The clever part is to convince a bunch of people to write him a $100k check - maybe 10, perhaps more if he's luck and flee (by conventional aircraft) to Bolivia. Even he actually stuck around to sell these he'd still be enjoying a huge profit margin at $200k each! But he'll need it pay for the lawsuits that would follow after the first accident - the safety aspects are mind boggling. I wonder if he's thought about a fire extinguisher, quick release and parachute because you know there will be people who just go straight up, run out of gas and go straight down. Maybe that is what the GPS is supposed to do, but seriously I'll be this guy has done zero actual work on this other than mechanically strapping the jets together - he's probably just done about as much thinking on it as I have writing this critique.

Finally, homeland security will ban these in a twinkling of an eye. Last thing they need is RPG or bomb laden bin-Ladens, popping up and flying in a low altitude for our presidential appearances from out of no-where. ]]>Aug 1st 2006 2:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.jetcatusa.com/gps.html

A $200 add-on from Jetcat.

Seriously, I don't think we'll be seeing Skywalker Jets flying through the air any time before we see Moller Skycars doing the same http://www.moller.com/skycar/ - these guys should get together because Moller probably has sufficient software and attitude control to make those turbines actually feasible. Then all he needs is a parachute...]]>Aug 1st 2006 3:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 1st 2006 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
(http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5417019303200331106)]]>Aug 1st 2006 9:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 25th 2008 1:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.canosoarus.com/07RocketBelt/Rocket02.htm ]]>Aug 1st 2006 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/Aug 2nd 2006 7:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/skywalker-jet-packs-in-development/
This guy is going to kill someone. Hopefully its only limited to maiming himself.

The saving grace is that the FAA will NEVER give him a certification (Experimental or not) for this contraption. Considering that it has a flight time that is barely longer than the amount of time that should be used to conduct a throughal pre-flight checklist, the fact that he has virtually NO way to develop a uniform standard flight control system that will be pilot independent, the fact that R/C turbines, while small and cheap are nowhere NEAR as reliable and consitent as full size certified turbine engines.

I can only hope that no-one is dumb enough to send him a check. Maybe he should hit-up Moller (Flying Car) for money and advice.

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