Civilian Allowed To Fly A Jetpack In Historic Demo

After decades of broken promises, it seems the time has finally come. Jetpack Aviation just mad industry news by allowing a minimally trained civilian to try out its innovative mode of transport and nobody died. This marks a historic moment that could potentially be the culmination of years of desires by sci-fi fans to finally whiz around the skies with their very own jetpacks.

Jetpacks are among the most popular items on nerdy wish lists for a long time now, with so many films, TV shows, and other entertainment mediums featuring the futuristic mode of transportation with appropriate flair. Now that Jetpack Aviation showed how a civilian who only received about 10 hours of training can fly one safely, CEO David Mayman and his team are hoping for more mainstream attention, New Atlas reports.

Finding the lucky person to wear the jetpack was done via YouTube competition, which was then won by tech reviewer, Mischa Pollack. Pollack was then brought over to the test site in Los Angeles, located north in an avocado orchard.

It’s worth noting that the tests did not involve Pollack launching himself into the sky like James Bond. Rather, he was allowed to hover a few feet from the ground with the jetpack actually being weighed down by chains. This is understandable since, even with his 10 hours of training, it was still a relatively risky prospect and the company could not afford the negative publicity.

Even so, Mayman believes that the successful test is proof that the world is ready for jetpacks to become conventional modes of transport, Futurism reports. With some training, practically anyone can become a flying dot in the skies.

“This is proving we can train pretty much anybody,” Mayman told New Atlas. “I think this speaks to the stability of the machine and the intuitive nature of flying this thing; it really is like a bike.”