Author : Steve Lehto
Publisher : Chicago Review Press
ISBN 13 : 1613744331
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (137 download)
Book Synopsis The Great American Jet Pack by : Steve Lehto
Download or read book The Great American Jet Pack written by Steve Lehto and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.