How the futuristic dream of the jetpack became a reality – but left the inventor disillusioned
Christchurch-based Martin Aircraft says it will deliver its first experimental jetpacks to customers this year, a big development for the new technology.
Glenn Martin was sitting in a bar with his college buddies 35 years ago when they got to wondering: What ever happened to flying cars and jetpacks?
The next day, the New Zealander began looking for answers in the science library, triggering a lifelong quest to build a jetpack. But today, with the company he created seemingly on the verge of triumph, Martin worries his dream is slipping away.
Martin Aircraft says it will deliver its first experimental jetpacks to customers this year, a big development for the new technology. But the jetpack is being designed for first responders like firefighters, an outcome that falls short of Martin’s vision of a recreational jetpack that anybody could fly.
The inventor has now left the company he founded. What’s more, he says, he’s asked for his name to be removed.
“All us guys know what a jetpack’s for,” he says with a smile at his Christchurch home. “With a jetpack, you save the world and you get the girl. Right?”
Jetpacks have often been portrayed that way in books and movies. They have formed part of humanity’s utopian future vision for the past century. Fictional characters from Buck Rogers to Elroy Jetson have used them, and a real jetpack wowed the crowds at the opening of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.