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Paramedics in the UK are testing the use of personal jetpacks to rescue injured hikers in hard to reach places and my first thought is that Sylvester Stallone’s character Gabe Walker in 1993’s Cliffhanger. In that film, Sly played a Rocky Mountain rescue worker who was an expert rock climber. He was sent in to save other climbers from spots that were nearly impossible to reach via helicopter.
I believe the saying goes ‘the future is now, old man’ because Gabe’s out of a job thanks to personal jetpacks. Gravity Industries is a UK company testing their personal jetpack for these rescue workers who to quickly ascend mountains. What would normally be a 30-minute trip to a spot can now be a matter of seconds.
They’ve released footage of the personal jetpack in action and frankly, this is something I need in my life just for fun. I want to be the first guy in my neighborhood with a personal jetpack. So many of my neighbors have tricked out golf carts and I’m always jealous of them but not jealous enough to go trick out my own golf cart.
I’d rather get ahead of the game and flex on them with something nobody has. I need a jetpack, dammit, and this looks like exactly what I’ve got my sights set on.
According to France24 news, what would normally be a 25-minute journey for a rescue worker can now be accomplished in 90 seconds. That could legitimately mean the difference between life and death in many situations.
In one simulation, a paramedic wearing the “jet suit” was dispatched to aid a 10-year-old girl who had fallen from cliffs and sustained a serious leg injury. After receiving the coordinates, the paramedic was able to reach the girl in only 90 seconds. Responders on foot would have taken 25 minutes to make the same journey.
“First flight in Cumbria for a jet suit that’s going to save lives and ease suffering, so, an incredible moment. “A truly, truly incredible moment. It’s absolutely astounding how quickly we’re going to be at somebody’s side that needs us.”
Powered by five miniature jet engines mounted on the pilot’s arms and back, the suit has a maximum speed of 32 miles per hour (51 km/h) and can reach altitudes of 12,000 feet (3,658 metres).
The Gravity Industries jet suit is just one of several jetpack-like technologies in development around the world, demonstrating that jet-powered personal flight is no longer just science fiction.
My main problem with jetpacks is that the people who own the jetpacks hoard them. It seems like every year on Guinness World Record Day there’s some guy who breaks a new speed record with his personal jetpack and I put emphasis on ‘personal’ there because these jetpacks have been around for years and still aren’t making their way to the public. I get that they’re crazy expensive to build but shouldn’t we (the public) at least have an option to buy them by now?
You might think that my quest to flex on my neighbors with a jetpack is all about foolish pride and you might be right but if I’m dumb enough to spend a small fortune on a jetpack that should be my right. Isn’t this America, after all? The land of the free where anything’s possible with enough money?