Video: http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/9raw-rocket-man-soars-ov...

Swiss inventor and pilot Yves Rossy has successfully flown a new version of his jet-powered rocket over Lake Geneva with a total flight time of 18 minutes before landing.

His youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/jetmanofficial#p/u/1/xWIoOzrGnOU

Step 2: FIGHT CRIME

This is a prime example of dogfooding.

I was expecting a trendy javascript-instead-of-flash game. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Looks pretty cool, also looks pretty dangerous. Dunno if I'd give up public transport for this.

Let's hope sometime it would be possible to make such a wing VTOL-capable and have some kind of airbag safety device for use at low altitudes. Before that happens we're left with paragliding and ultralight trikes...

Few achieve <noun>man. It's inspiring.

No take off, No demonstration of control and speed variations, No landing. Am sure secret prototypes at NASA or elsewhere are much better.

stop hating.

There is demonstration of flight in formation with regular planes, so he has at least some control.

Slightly disappointed he landed with a parachute, but still a marvel of human ingenuity.

How do those turbines compare to something like this? http://www.jetcatusa.com/p200.html

Is it really just a matter of having 30k and the balls to pull something like this off?

edit: It is those turbines exactly, it looks like.

It's nothing to do with having the 30k, it's about having the engineering chops to design this, the cold stones to put it on, and the lifetime of experience needed to know how to handle the dynamics of a dangerous vehicle that's never existed before.

Hell, if I had those 3 qualities (I don't even have one), I would drop the 30k without a question.

Jetman also helps rationalize government funding for things like space, Moon, and Mars exploration. I know that I will never have the constitution to strap on a jetpack like Jetman. But I'm able to vicariously experience a (vanishingly) small fraction of the thrill just by watching him do so, just like I'm able to experience a small fraction of the joy of walking on the Moon by watching the Apollo astronauts.

This is the ultimate boys toy. I wonder how much of a pilot you need to be to fly this? Are there aileron, rudder and thrust controls?

Even if the controls were simple, I think you'd probably want to have experience flying just so you're practiced keeping your cool in similar but less dangerous situations. This thing looks like it's about three seconds of panic away from killing anyone.

Apparently he has a throttle but no other controls, and steers using body english. Sounds like skydiving would be slightly better training for this than piloting.

Yes, and he also said that the "controls" are very sensitive. Even slightly moving his head changes his course.

So no looking around and enjoying the scenery... if he or anyone ever builds a "two-seater" (not a seater to begin with of course) this would surely, well, take off.

This is how much of a pilot you need to be:

- Swiss Air Force pilot

- Captain with Swiss International Air Lines on commercial flights on Boeing and Airbus airliners

- All free time dedicated to flight and experimentation

- 5 years of rigorous training and practice with a working prototype

There's more to it than piloting experience. You need to have a lot of experience controlling your body in air. In skydiving circles, it's usually a requirement of a few hundred jumps before you can start learning to fly a wingsuit. (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wingsuit)

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It's coming on and off. The video in the comments is what you want to see anyway.

How does he land?

Edit: Parachute. Of course.

There is no limit to man's dream of flying .