Jet Pack Runs For Hours On Water 268
Ponca City, We love you writes "Jet packs have been around for half a century, but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds. Now a German company has taken the standard jet pack design, run a fat yellow hose out the back, and connected it to a small unmanned boat that houses an engine, pump, and fuel tank and sends pressurized water up the hose, where it's shot out by two nozzles just behind the wearer's shoulders. Called the JetLev-Flyer, the design purportedly can reach a height of 15 meters, a speed of 72 kph, and a range of 300 kilometers based on four hours of flying time. A digital fly-by-wire system is used to control the throttle. Future designs may achieve higher altitudes, higher top speeds, and extended range, and even travel below the water's surface. The American manufacturers claim it is 'amazingly easy to learn and operate' and they're taking orders now at $130,000 each."
round and round (Score:2, Funny)
I doubt how anything that makes you spin 300 km of circles around a fixed point in the water (and probably vomiting every now and then) is going to make you look cool.
Re:are you crazy? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A range of 300 km? (Score:2, Funny)
Worms (Score:3, Funny)
> but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds
But that's what made them fun in the game
Re:So it doesn't run on water at all? (Score:5, Funny)
The real question should be. Does it run Linux.
Prior art (Score:3, Funny)
This is pretty much a human Water Wiggle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_WdavMuKs [youtube.com]
Re:A range of 300 km? (Score:3, Funny)
Is your boat 15 meters tall? You get a higher view, which has many uses.
You are invited... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So it doesn't run on water at all? (Score:2, Funny)
More than likely that it runs on beer.
I'm pretty sure i can run Linux on beer also. Just my efficiency goes down.... or up depending on the task.
How to Annoy People, Vol. I (Score:1, Funny)
This would be a fantastic device for annoying the shit out of anyone hanging out on a dock or outside their house that's on the lake.
Just imagine Norm and Agnes, outside on the deck, enjoying a quiet cup of tea when suddenly... what on earth is that?
VVVRRRROOOOMMMMM! You show up, 30 ft. in the like a supersoaker from hell and hover over them, pounding them into the deck with your aerial twin water cannons.
Move over jet-skis, there's a new douchebag in town!
Runs on water? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:So it doesn't run on water at all? (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, typical /. headline: so misleading that you have to read the article to figure out what they're talking about, and 90% of the discussion is focused on either annoyance about or misapprehension of the false headline.
There's a story below that has a headline about the odds of finding an Earth-like planet within a few dozen lightyears of Earth, but I'm pretty sure the actual story is about a new way to bake pastry. With a /. headline, why would anyone assume otherwise?
Re:are you crazy? (Score:5, Funny)
This seems more of a limit on a jetpack than I'd be willing to accept. I mean, cruising along 100 feet over the ground (Well, the water) is fine until you hit a dock, or accidentally go over land. Then you've got 100 feet of free-fall.
As a bonus, you're almost guaranteed for this thing to ONLY fail when you're NOT over water, eliminating the only chance you have of surviving that big of a fall.
Join my campaign (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A range of 300 km? (Score:3, Funny)
Ahh, so yer mizzen t'gallant crowsnest is two and a half fathoms above the waves, matey?
I can't believe no one has said this yet (Score:4, Funny)
In Soviet Russia... the [waterskier|parasailer] tows the boat!