Aussie flies 'world's only jetpack' around Statue of Liberty

We might not have proper hoverboards yet. But we have jetpacks. Australian jetpacks.

After 10 years of dedicated work, Sydney-born pilot David Mayman has unveiled the "world's only jetpack" and taken it for a joyride around New York's Statue of Liberty. Just because.

It's called the JB-9 and it was developed by Mayman and Academy Award Winning Hollywood inventor Nelson Tyler, who developed the Bell Rocket Belt in the 1960s which went on to feature in the James Bond film Thunderball and at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Speaking to Fairfax Media from Los Angeles, Mayman said he'd been pursuing the project for 25 years but it was meeting Tyler a decade ago that really propelled things along.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!"Credit: Jetpack Aviation

"It's been my sole focus for the last 10 years — it's meant living on aeroplanes and basically travelling between the US and Europe constantly to get this done," he said.

"I've poured a lot of personal resources financially into it, and at points where it didn't necessarily look like it was going to be possible."

He said "literally millions" had been spent on research and development, and he was "scratching himself" that he had made it at last.

There are other jetpacks around ... sort of.

New Zealand company Martin Aircraft Co also claims to have made a jetpack, although it is not jet-powered and stretches the definition of the word "pack".

Mayman's claim to being the only true jetpack rests on the terminology: "jet", meaning a jet turbine engine (like in an aeroplane — i.e. "jet plane" — but much smaller) which burns kerosene or diesel; and "pack", as in something you can carry on your back.

Jet over the Tasman to Christchurch and Martin Aircraft Co, which has just signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates to supply vehicles for its emergency services, claims it created the world's first commercial jetpack, the Martin Jetpack.

But as you can see, this is somewhat larger than a backpack. It also runs on a petrol engine with ducted fans, not a jet turbine engine.

Swiss pilot Yves Rossy flies a jet-powered wing suit (you may have seen him in a recent video tailing an A380 over Dubai), but his design needs to be dropped out of an aeroplane whereas Mayman's can take off from a standing start.

While the Rocket Belt that Tyler worked on in the '60s might have also seemed worthy of the Jetsons, it could only last in the air about 30 seconds.

The JB-9 can do 10 minutes at 250 kilometres an hour, and fly up to 1000 feet. Martin's "jetpack" can do 20 minutes, but at 75kmph.

Mayman said the JB-9 was "much more manoeuvrable" than anything else around too.

"You can zip and zap and turn around and spin and propellorate," he said.

Mayman said he's actually been flying the JB-9 around for about a year on private properties, and the Statue of Liberty video was "the most docile flight I've ever done, just because of all the cameras there".

"The last thing I wanted to do was embarrass myself and go for a swim in the Hudson approaching winter," he said.

As to why those powerful jets didn't burn Mayman's legs, he said though the jet stream was close to his legs, it's trained in "quite a small vertical stream" and also cools down as soon as it mixes with the outside air.

If you thought Mayman flying around the Statue of Liberty was one of the coolest things you've ever seen, you'll be pleased to know there's an Australian documentary feature film about his pursuits currently in post-production and due out early next year.

It's called Own The Sky and is being put together by an Emmy award-winning team as a co-production between two studios, Paperbark Films and Firelight Productions.

Paperbark says on its website the film tracks Mayman and Tyler "testing everything from drone jets in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, to extremely powerful home made turbines in the UK" in search of the "holy grail" of personal flight.

Jetpack Aviation is in discussion with commercial and government organisations as to what will determine the company's next steps.

"There are the obvious things like entertainment — I'm looking at Hollywood right now out the window, we're very close to the epicentre of entertainment here," Mayman said.

Large international brands were showing interest in the jetpack, while in more serious pursuits, it could have life-saving applications in search and rescue situations, he said.