It is a bird...it is a plane...no it's jetpack man

Soaring solo with a jetpack is flying out of our dreams and into reality – but not as quickly as the world would like.

The first Martin Jetpacks may be delivered by the end of this year, said company founder Glenn Martin, and interest is already strong in the Middle East. “We have two or three individuals over there who are quite interested in purchasing serial number 001,” he said. “Whoever can turn up with the most money can get it.”

The jetpack’s 200hp (150kW) Martin V4 ducted fan was developed to provide 600lb of thrust (2.7kN) to twin blades of the torque-neutral fan system, which draw petrol from a 140litre tank over a potential range of 50km. Test flights have climbed to 10 meters, surpassing the earlier limit of three meters on its way to a 2,440m service ceiling.

Altitude restrictions will ease once an airframe reaches 100 flight hours, Martin said, but that limit hasn’t stopped 1,500 people from saying they want to buy one. An unnamed aerospace company is the new 51 per cent owner of Martin Jetpacks. “Our joint venture partner wants to keep the details of that quiet until it’s gone through all the appropriate approvals, patenting, branding and things in their country,” Martin said.

Multiple configurations are possible under plans for 500 units each year, he added, with the first deliveries for search and rescue. After two weeks of training, each $100,000 unit can fly away at 87kt.

• Yves Rossy attains speeds of 130kt as Jet-Man, strapped under a collapsible wing and propelled by Jetcat engines designed for toy airplanes. His prototype is years away from commercial production, he said. “I would really like to share my passion with my friends and others skydivers. To fly with other ‘Jet-Men’ all together is my aim. It will be fun!”

Fun is the idea, the Swiss airline pilot confirmed, not transportation. “It will probably become an extreme sport,” he predicted, and only skilled skydivers will be qualified. The trick of using one’s own body as control surfaces can be learned in a few weeks, he said. Rossy starts each flight by leaping from an airplane and landing with a parachute.

A catapult or any high-speed boost could allow ground take-off, he said.

He’s already flown across the English Channel in nine minutes and plans another attempt at winning the Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge by flying from Morocco to Spain.  “I’ve never thought before to fly over a desert, but it could be great! Any suggestions?”

• Contorting your body can be tiring but is especially rough on Visa Parviainen, “BirdMan” from Finland, who uses a wing suit and small jets on his boots to achieve level flight, and even to climb. For level, flight, he said: “The best recorded result was 1meter/second for 30 seconds.”

Parviainen usually launches from a hot-air balloon but has started jumping from piston aircraft. “Our next target is to fly together with the plane I exit from,” he said.