Jetpacks for Sale on Ebay

by James on September 9, 2009 in Aircraft, News, Updates

Welcome to Answers for Pilots, and thanks for visiting - get involved by creating an account, asking an aviation question, or by answering an open question. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, read about the site, or subscribe to our newsletter. Thanks for visiting!

Glenn Martin

Glenn Martin, inventor of the Martin Jetpack, and Managing Director of Martin Aircraft Company, announced that after 30 years of engineering his jetpack is complete. The Martin Jetpack delivers on the long awaited dream of personal flight without being enclosed in a traditional aircraft.

“We’ve made it possible to fly the dream,” says Glenn. “But the best part of this is that it’s not just our dream. It belongs to everyone.”

Glenn, along with the exceptional engineers at Martin Aircraft Company have created a jetpack that flies 100 time longer than its predecessor, the Bell Rocket Belt.

For Glenn it was the moment when a lifetime of research and development and, as he says, “the sheer bloody-minded persistence of a group of people who refused to believe it couldn’t be done” came together. For everyone at Oshkosh, it was history in the making.” The Martin Jetpack has a patented fan jet technology, uses regular gasoline, complies with Ultralight regulations and is easy to fly after completion of a unique training program.

Now Glenn is taking is new invention to eBay. He is auctioning off the first six flights of his ducted fan contraption to the public through ebay. The winner of the bid can take the prize on their own, or invite up to three friends to join them.The winner will be responsible for their own expenses in getting to New Zealand for the three-days of training and flying.

Martin says anyone who can strap into the device can submit a bid. “Whoever wins this auction, whether it’s a highly qualified pilot or
Jetpack Test Flight

someone who has never flown before, we will be able to tailor a testing program for the jetpack that matches their skill,” he said. Martin said a lot of improvements have been made since the tentative flight, watched closely by spotters, at EAA AirVenture in 2008. In fact, Martin is building his business around making the experience available to virtually anyone in an adventure tourism sort of enterprise.

He insists the thrill seeker version of the Jetpack will be safe and fun. “Our aim is to make the easiest-to-fly aircraft in the world,” he said. “Because of the fly-by-wire systems we have developed in the last year, we recently had a novice pilot fly solo quite safely with 12 minutes of flight time.”

The auction ends Sept. 24 and there’s a minimum bid of $30,000.