Burton MacKenzie

This guy is futzing awesome! He flying under power of kerosene engine jets on the wings he has strapped to his back.


I can imagine a conversation between me and Futzing Awesome Flying Jet Man. It goes like this:

FAFJM: So Burton, what do you do for fun?
Me: I study math and physics and build things. What do you do for fun?
FAFJM: I strap a pair of wings with jet engines to my back, jump out of an airplane, and go flying.
Me: You win.

I don't know anything about him, and I don't want to know too much. In my ignorance of who he really is I can imagine that he's really an eccentric millionaire, like Tony Stark (Iron Man) or Bruce Wayne (Batman). He's working towards being a superhero, and this is his flying suit. (Richard Branson is still perfecting his balloon-based battle cruiser.)

You can't see it in the photo, but they had to counter-balance the wings for the enormous mass of his balls.

We've had the wheel for a long long time, but humans never really got around to making bicycles until the 19th century. Sometimes the application of technology to personal scale transportation takes time, and this jetwing is the modern equivalent of the invention of the bicycle. Integration of non-linear control systems, autopilots and the ilk will simplify its control systems for greater inherent safety and stability, not unlike the Segway. In the decades down the road, we'll have commodity personal jetwings/jetpacks, as common as cars are now, that will be as easy to fly as a videogame.

The people have demanded "Where's my rocket car!?", and now it's on its way. Time marches on, though, and I wonder if I'll see it in my lifetime. Keep up the good work, Futzing Awesome Flying Jet Man!

Burton MacKenZie www.burtonmackenzie.com