Brace yourself for a moment as this is a touch left field even for us here at crankandpiston.com. What you are looking at here is a Jetpack, the Martin Jetpack to be precise. A bonafida flying machine and the brain child of Glenn Martin.
Brace yourself for a moment, as this is a touch left-field even for crankandpiston.com. What you are looking at here is a jetpack, the Martin Jetpack to be precise, a bonafide flying machine and the brain child of Glenn Martin.
It is a showcase of what can happen when you live in New Zealand, detached from the daily grind of the commercial world; left-field thinking, boundary pushing and for those reasons, we love it.
Named as one of Time magazine’s Top 50 inventions a couple of years back, the Martin Jetpack is exactly what it looks like. A fully practical and revolutionary flying machine that we want. Badly. You can either hop in yourself and fly it, or go military on your mates and fly it via remote control. Either way, Glenn is hoping to change the way we view jetpacks. This isn’t a music video or the opening ceremony to the LA Olympics anymore.
Power comes from a 2-litre V4 engine that pushes out 200 horsepower, the same as a moderately pokey hot hatch. This powerplant sits in a composite frame made mainly of various different types of carbonfibre. Crucially, it also has a parachute system fitted in case things go wrong.
The Martin Jetpack has the opportunity to change the way rescue missions are handled, providing untold speed of response and for that we applaud the man. Madness but awesome in equal measure. Perfect.
Watch the video below and tell us you don’t at least fancy a go.
