Company Hopes To Begin Retail Sales Next Year

Are our visions of the 21st century finally coming true? First, Terrafugia's flying car ... and now the Martin Jetpack may finally be ready for flight testing.

New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin started working on the jetpack more than 30 years ago as a garage entrepreneur. New Zealand authorities recently gave the company a flying permit to allow flight testing of the device.

Two cylinders attached to a carbon-fiber frame containing propulsion fans make up the Martin Jetpack. It is controlled by a pair of joysticks, one in each hand of the pilot, who reportedly would need no specialized training to fly it. The jetpack also is equipped with a rocket-propelled parachute just in case things to very wrong.

Martin CEO Peter Coker told Sky News that the position of the ducts on the latest prototype have been changed, resulting in a "quantum leap in performance" over previous models.

The company says it hopes to have people flying next year. No word on how much the device will set your bank account back.

(Image of unmanned test of Prototype 12 captured from Martin YouTube video)

FMI: http://martinjetpack.com