Last week we had flying cars. This week we have men in jetpacks. The future is here:
Jetpack daredevils Yves Rossy and Vince Reffet recently partnered with Emirates Airlines for a stunt involving an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane, over Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah and skyline with Burj Khalifa in the background. It’s an airspace Rossy and Reffet visited earlier in 2015. Rossy has also jetpacked over the Grand Canyon.
Said Emirates COO Adel Al Redha of the stunt: “This display between man and machine celebrates the magic and beauty of flight, a feat which just over a hundred years ago would have seemed an impossible dream. It also showcases how far human vision and ambition has, and can continue to push aviation’s boundaries.”
Emirates related the technical aspects of the flight in a release:
During the formation flight, the Emirates A380 flew at a weight of just 350 tonnes (the maximum weight of an A380 is 575 tonnes). As the largest passenger aircraft in the world, wake turbulence was the most significant risk to Jetman during the flight.