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Mankind’s obsession with flight goes way back. The recorded history of aviation, in fact, goes back a couple thousand years.
As the 19th and 20th centuries passed, we saw the likes of gliders and airships, which gave way to airplanes, jets, helicopters, and supersonic and hypersonic aircraft. And then space craft.
By now, we’ve taken to the skies like never before, pushing the limits of our imagination and what is possible.
But for all this amazing technological success – we still yearn for more. We don’t just want to soar like the birds. We want to fly AS the birds. Free, unfettered, uninhibited, without relying on, or being inside of any flying machine.
In this episode, we explore personal flight technology. We’re talking rocket-powered shoes, hoverboards, and jet packs.
Jet Shoes
John D. Bird (left) and a NASA jet shoe prototype being tested (right)
1966 jet shoe prototype
NASA jet shoe testing in the 1960’s
Link to Jet Shoes patent documentation: https://patents.google.com/patent/US3420471A/en
Hoverboards
Hoverboard scene in Back to the Future II (1989)
“HUVR” hoverboard spoof in 2014
2015 commercial for the Lexus “Slide” hoverboard
Video explaining the production and technology behind the Lexus “Slide”
Tony Hawk riding the Hendo hoverboard
Flyboard Air
Rocket Packs
Clip from The Rocketeer (1991)
Jetpack-wearing super hero on the cover of Amazing Stories, August 1928
Short documentary on the Bell Rocket Belt
Links to some jet pack manufacturers:
- Jetpack Aviation: https://jetpackaviation.com/
- Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana: https://www.tecaeromex.com/ingles/RB-i.htm
- Thunderbolt Aerosystems: http://www.thunderman.net/
- Zapata Flyboard Air: https://www.zapata.com/air-products/flyboardair
