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The Great American Jet Pack
The Great American Jet Pack

The Great American Jet Pack

The Quest for the Ultimate Individual Lift Device

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING

240 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: PDF, EPUB, Mobipocket

PDF, $9.99 (US $9.99) (CA $12.99)

Publication Date: May 2013

ISBN 9781613744314

Rights: WOR

Chicago Review Press (May 2013)

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Overview

Man's dream of flying solo

Tracing the remarkable history of a certain kind of flying machine—from the rocket belt to the jet belt to the flying platform and all the way to Yves Rossy's 21st-century free flights using a jet-powered wing—this historical account delves into the technology that made these devices possible and the reasons why they never became commercial successes on a mass scale. These individual lift devices, as they were blandly labeled by the government men who financed much of their development, answered man's desire to simply step outside and take flight. No runways, no wings, no pilot's license were required. But the history of the jet pack did not follow its expected trajectory and the devices that were thought to become as commonplace as cars have instead become one of the most overpromised technologies of all time. This fascinating account profiles the inventors and pilots, the hucksters and cheats, and the businessmen and soldiers who were involved with the machines, and it tells a great American story of a technology whose promise may yet, one day, come to fruition.

Reviews

"While personal-flight prototypes edge from pipe dream to purchase order, this well-documented history provides a satisfying substitution." —Kirkus Reviews

“It’s a fascinating tale, full of wild ideas and serious science (with, yes, a little kidnapping, torture, and murder), and Lehto tells it very well.”—Booklist

Author Biography

Steve Lehto is the author of Death’s Door: The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder, a 2007 Michigan Notable Book; Chrysler's Turbine Car; and Michigan’s Columbus: The Life of Douglass Houghton. He lives in Boca Raton, Florida.