Inventor blasts off in Martin jet pack

A nouvelle way of beating the traffic!

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1 August 2008 14:34 GMT / By Katie Scott

Is it a bird, is a plane, no, it's a man with jet engines strapped onto his back.

Yes Kiwi inventor Glenn Martin (aka Rocket Man) has done it - his latest flying gear - the Martin Jet Pack managed to get off the ground for 50ft (distance), 6ft (height) and 45 seconds (time).

Martin showed off the device by allowing his 16-year-old son, Harrison, to try it out.

Before a crowd of spectators in the States, he managed to get the piano-sized device to hoover.

And his father quipped afterwards: "That went better than expected. People will look back on this as a moment in history".

Martin believes we could all be jetting around using such devices in years to come and the jet pack is actually going commercial next year.

But the Martin Jet Pack is currently £50,000 ($100,000) so it'll have to come down in price and up in how long it stays airborne before people are reaching for their wallets and their crash helmets.

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