Lost In Space John Robinson with Jet Pack
Back in the late '60s and early 70's, I was Lost in Space junkie. Love the idea of Space travel, ray guns, a d when I saw John Robinson fly in that Jet Pack. Man, I wanted to get one of those.
Here it is, some 40 years later and there is no safe personal jet packs available on the open market that you can use to commute to work. But it looks like there are some serious enthusiast out there. Check out this report from Boing Boing (reprinted below) about the second annual Rocketbelt Convention. Cool stuff. I love the last line:
“... paraphrasing the words of the great Stephen Colbert: “For years we’ve been promised little wrist-sized televisions, a meal in a pill and jetpacks —- let’s hope this year that promise finally becomes a reality.””
Video and photos of rocketbelt conference
Mac Montandon is writing a book about the history of jetpacks, due to be published by Da Capo Press next year. He wrote the following report for Boing Boing.
|
The second annual Rocketbelt Convention was held this past weekend as part of the Thunder of Niagara air show on the Air Force’s reserves base in Niagara Falls. So when GoFast! pilot Eric Scott blasted off for a 15-second, 110-decibel rocketbelt demonstration, he flew in the same air space where F-16s were wowing the crowd with gravity-defying stunts and turns at mind-bending angles–like practically perpendicular to the ground. In addition to Scott’s daily demos, jetpack and rocketbelt enthusiasts (read: obsessives), could check out Gerard Martowlis ground testing the rocketbelt he’s built from scratch in his New Jersey basement. (And he has the hydrogen peroxide fuel burns to prove it). The self-proclaimed Rocketman, Ky Michaelson, drove 15 hours from Minneapolis to show off his shiny rocket-powered chair, scooter and a kid-sized ‘pack that my daughter Oona was lucky enough to try on. (In case anyone doubts how serious Ky is about all this, consider the fact that his son's middle name is legally "Rocketman"). A couple of the rocketbelt scene’s biggest stars were on hand: the Mexican rocket wizard, Juan Lozano, who has affixed high-octane propulsion to just about anything you can think of, including four rocketbelts; and the man some call Mr. Jetpack, Bill Suitor. If you witnessed the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles, have seen Thunderball or certain episodes of Lost in Space, or ever searched “jetpack” on YouTube, you’ve seen Suitor’s work–the former Bell Aerospace pilot has taken some 1,200 rocketbelt flights in his lifetime. The convention’s technology was so inspiring Oona appeared to be just as happy trying on the mini rocketbelt as she was ripping down the giant inflatable slide in the kiddie zone. Perhaps the best way to sum up this year’s convention is by paraphrasing the words of the great Stephen Colbert: For years we’ve been promised little wrist-sized televisions, a meal in a pill and jetpacks –- let’s hope this year that promise finally becomes a reality. |
