One of the most intriguing modes of transport over the years, especially in movies and games, has been the Jetpack. Humans have always aspired to reach the skies (and go beyond) and while they have somewhat achieved that with airplanes and rockets, the experience is still not quite that magical since you’re confined within a metallic box. However, jetpacks can hopefully overcome that barrier and get you closer to the thrilling act of actually flying.
While jetpacks are all fun and amazing in games and movies, they are not exactly practical yet in real life. For instance, most modern jetpacks are massive and heavy since it requires a pretty massive amount of thrust to actually propel a human body. Furthermore, the sheer skill required to control a jetpack is also incredibly high and no ordinary person can just go and fly one without considerable prior training.
Not only that, most jetpacks that we have these days are not even that good. They usually tend to stay low and are very slow. In addition to that, they are not even fully autonomous meaning that some external help or support is required to fly around in those jetpacks. However, that could actually be about to change as humanity has taken its first step towards a fully autonomous jetpack.
Daredevil jet man tests a fully autonomous jetpack around Dubai for the first time ever
In a breathtaking and awe-inspiring stunt around Dubai, Jetman and XDubai teamed up earlier to test the world’s first fully autonomous jetpack. This stunt was performed to promote the Expo 2020 Dubai, which begins in October.
In the first video that was initially posted by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who is the Crown Prince of Dubai, two men wielding a jetpack can be seen soaring through the skies independently at incredibly high speeds while performing nimble moves between the wondrous mountains.
The first video was filmed in the Tianmen Mountain region in China, in which the two French Daredevil Jetmen, Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen used a helicopter to begin their flight through the mountains.
However, in another video posted recently, a Daredevil Jet Man can be seen taking off from a port in Dubai and flying off into the distance going as high as the tallest skyscrapers in the city. The most impressive thing about this stunt though is that the jet man took off without any external help and also managed to reach an incredible height and velocity in such a short time.
This is extraordinary
The Crown Prince of Dubai @HamdanMohammed just posted this video: "A major milestone in the quest to achieve 100% autonomous human flight."
The milestone is about speed (and perhaps altitude)
This isn't your ordinary jetpack…watch the whole clip pic.twitter.com/SoDquf5IAv
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) February 17, 2020
According to Jetman, the jetpack is capable of reaching speeds of over 260 kilometers per hour. One can only imagine how jaw-dropping and thrilling it would actually be to fly around in that thing. The series of stunts has been titled as ‘Mission Human Flight’ and will help pave the way for 100% autonomous human flight.
Furthermore, with this stunt, the daredevil jet men operating the jetpacks also became the first men in the history of mankind to actually fly independently using a jet-engine powered carbon fibre jetpack.
However, keeping the excitement aside, are jetpacks even viable in today’s day and age?
Well, let’s start with the individual feasibility. Yes, jetpacks can be extremely fun to fly around in but that’s it. It is very hard to imagine a society where jetpacks are being used as a daily mode of transport, especially when you consider all the fuel and air traffic constraints.
Additionally, with these jetpacks having emissions that are apparently just shy of a traditional car, this is certainly not the direction we are supposed to be heading towards considering we are currently facing a climate change crisis. What we need to do is invest our time in environmentally friendly mass modes of transport rather than solo jetpacks that destroy the atmosphere.
So, the only practically viable way for these jetpacks to exist is as a joyride and nothing more. Nonetheless, it is still a remarkably impressive feat and the future of autonomous human flight looks brighter than ever.