10 mile range jet pack

[coliver988]

Not quite a grav belt, but I'll take one for Christmas!

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/notag/jetpack-with-a-10-mile-range-available-soon-for-226000-333150.php

 

[Icosahedron]

Nice - unfortunately, inventing viable jet packs (today) and flying cars (twenty years ago) is only the tip of the iceberg. The problem is that Joe Public just isn't allowed to fly them - certainly not within ten miles of anyone else! When is someone gonna crack that one?

 

[aramis]

Given Barak Obama's recent claims in the debates, perhaps he might try...

 

[atpollard]

Nice - unfortunately, inventing viable jet packs (today) and flying cars (twenty years ago) is only the tip of the iceberg. The problem is that Joe Public just isn't allowed to fly them - certainly not within ten miles of anyone else! When is someone gonna crack that one?

I think that the rules are more relaxed for 'experimental ultralights' like the 'kit planes' that lots of people build for a few thousand dollars. It might stand a chance if it could fit into that category ... "some assembly required".

 

[Icosahedron]

<grin> You don't live in the UK do you?

mega: Fingers on lips, the thought police are coming.

 

[Captain Midnight]

Nice - unfortunately, inventing viable jet packs (today) and flying cars (twenty years ago) is only the tip of the iceberg. The problem is that Joe Public just isn't allowed to fly them - certainly not within ten miles of anyone else! When is someone gonna crack that one?

I have a neighbor who is a sweet person, but an awful driver. She's a menace to anyone on the roads around her. I shudder to think about what could happen if she (or someone like her) ever got hold of a personal jet pack, or an air-raft, or anything that flies, basically. You're looking at the whole "incompetent operator" problem, with the negative consequences wildly increased.

I think it's only going to work when everyone gets very serious about driver training, and when automated systems get improved enough so that "don't let me crash" collision-avoidance and impact-avoidance software becomes as standard as antilock brakes are on new cars today. Until then, it's going to be really hard to get approval to fly these things from anyone charged with ensuring public safety.

Speaking as someone likely to be on the ground beneath those intrepid fliers... I'm good with that, truly I am.

 

[Icosahedron]

I know a couple of those myself. I agree this is (one reason) why the powers that be make things difficult, especially in a densely populated country like the UK, but it's also the crux of the problem. If only it were easier - and cheaper - to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The reason I don't fly a plane isn't because I'm crap at it, but because I can't afford a licence thanks to all the red tape, and I don't own a plane not because they're more complex to construct than cars, but because the safety red tape around their construction pushes the price through the roof.
If only the ability to fly were based on skill rather than wealth - I could be up there enjoying the wide blue yonder next week, while the rich kid with Dex=1 would never get to park his Cessna in my attic even after daddy has bought him 500 lessons.
That's what I mean by cracking the problem. It'll never happen, of course.

 

[G. Fieendish]

Have the inventors of said device been reading "Dude, Where's My Jetpack....?" recently....?
(It's a book cataloging why some things predicted in the past, that was regarded as science fiction, but were likely to happpen in the near future of the 50's/early 60's did'nt happen... Chapter 1 describes the problems with the personal jetpack....
Mind you, there is a minor nit, in said text, in that it was'nt Buck Rogers apparently flying in the cover of Astounding Stories, that's mentioned, it's Richard Seaton, from another story in the issue).

 

[Major B]

Maybe some would see that as a tool for natural selection taking its course, but then you do have some issues with innocent bystanders being 'selected' along with those more deserving to leave the gene pool.

I think that strict licensing requirements coupled with mandatory inspections every year will answer the safety concerns but will also reduce the number willing to buy the system. That means it will be difficult to be profitable so entrepreneurs are less likely to develop prototypes. That means it will probably remain a 'niche' product only for those with more money and time than most, unless the safety / collision avoidance / autolanding system that Captain Midnight alludes to come around at a low enough prices to make it attractive to the general public.

Then again, just because it is a 'niche' product does not mean your players won't get their hands on one.

 

[far-trader]

Maybe some would see that as a tool for natural selection taking its course, but then you do have some issues with innocent bystanders being 'selected' along with those more deserving to leave the gene pool..

Just allow the innocent bystanders who feel threatened by a low flying dangerous jetpack jockey to be prepared...

:devil:

 

[Icosahedron]

Er, I'd rather see my next-door-neighbour with his hands on a jetpack, thanks!

 

[G. Fieendish]

Coming soon to a A/V Channel near you...?
Pimp My Jetpack....