Rocket Man. How cool is this?

The Real Life Buzz Lightyear

How amazing would this be? A set of jet wings strapped to your back, flying over the Alps at almost 200mph?

That’s just falling, with style.

OK, it is bloody cool though. Want one.

I regret all the times I’ve used the phrase “too cool for words”. I should have been saving it up for this occasion.

Would have been infinitely cooler if he’d glided to a landing instead of parachuting to earth.

For those who want some more:

Official site

And some YouTube videos of earlier test flights (with 1st person perspective!):

The second video has some explanation in French that’s not translated. The reason the wings fold is that they needed to fit in the plane. Somehow I think it makes the device even cooler, though. There’s a smoke generator, which is where you get the trails from. I liked his comment at the end (paraphrased): “it feels like you have a big handle on your back and God’s dragging you through the sky.”

If this doesn’t get into a James Bond movie, there is something wrong with the world.

[QUOTE=Omniscient]
Would have been infinitely cooler if he’d glided to a landing instead of parachuting to earth.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, although using your face as landing gear doesn’t sound like fun. I don’t think there’s any way you could flare, stall and just drop onto your feet on the ground, with a machine like that.

[QUOTE=Sunspace]
If this doesn’t get into a James Bond movie, there is something wrong with the world.
[/QUOTE]

They already had something a bit like it in Die Another Day - although this is cooler.

[QUOTE=Mangetout]
OK, it is bloody cool though. Want one.
[/QUOTE]

Your next project? I mean you’ve built a boat, a winged jetpack can’t be that much more difficult!

[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Yeah, although using your face as landing gear doesn’t sound like fun. I don’t think there’s any way you could flare, stall and just drop onto your feet on the ground, with a machine like that.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, you’re right, but to me it’s not flying if you’re not landing under your own power. That would be the innovation.

[QUOTE=Szlater]

[QUOTE=Mangetout]

OK, it is bloody cool though. Want one.
[/QUOTE]

Your next project? I mean you’ve built a boat, a winged jetpack can’t be that much more difficult!
[/QUOTE]

Put a wing and a couple of rockets on the boat?

[QUOTE=nd_n8]
Put a wing and a couple of rockets on the boat?
[/QUOTE]

Awesomer!

[QUOTE=Szlater]
Your next project? I mean you’ve built a boat, a winged jetpack can’t be that much more difficult!
[/QUOTE]

You understand me too well.

I never thought they would have something in real life that would be cooler than anything in a Bond movie, but this takes the cake. I will wait patiently until they start renting flights with this kind of thing, then I’ll be one of the first in line. It’s truly awesome.

SN1P3

[QUOTE=Omniscient]
Yeah, you’re right, but to me it’s not flying if you’re not landing under your own power. That would be the innovation.
[/QUOTE]

Wow, what a nitpick. I’ll bet you think hot girls have sharp knees, too.

Very cool, but he needs a new helmet.

Have you guys seen the “batwing” suits, people gliding along cliffs at 150+MPH like flying squirrels? Amazing stuff (although nothing like the jet/wings- that was bitchin’), google it up if you haven’t seen.

Here’s one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYwZlDp5x6Y

[QUOTE=mhendo]
How cool is this?
[/QUOTE]
Oh, around 3.15 on the pi scale. That would have been cool over Kansas. Over the Alps it’s simply spectacular.

Here I was thinking I’d had an enjoyable morning commute and was getting a lot done during the day. In comparison, turns out both perceptions were way off.

Did nobody else immediately think of Wiley Coyote?