The team of Jetman has surpassed an important milestone in their race to dominate the sky by flying with wings behind their backs. One of its pilots, Vince Reffet, has managed to take off from the ground and make the transition to a high altitude flight, a maneuver that had never been achieved so far.
A newly shared video (given below), about the last demonstration made by the Jetman Dubai, has left us with our mouths open.
Equipped with a carbon-fiber wing powered by four mini-jet engines, Vince Reffet climbed 100m in the air in eight seconds, 200m in 12 seconds, 500m in 19 seconds and 1,000m in 30 seconds at an average speed of 240 km/h (150 mph).
The flight lasted for a total of 3 minutes. The ‘Jetman’ flew up to an altitude of 1800 meters, before opening his parachute at 1500 meters and come back to the ground at Skydive Dubai. Controlled by the human body, the equipment enables the Jetman to perform stops, change directions, move backward, and reach speeds of 400 km/h (250 mph).
The take-off is spectacular! This flight, which was the part of the Expo 2020 Event in Dubai, demonstrated that Jetman pilots can now fly straight up from a standing start without a need for an elevated platform. It is also the first time when a pilot has taken off vertically. They previously had to jump from airplanes or helicopters that raise them to the desired height for their maneuvers.
Safety was the major concern during the test flight. The Jetman Dubai team conducted more than 50 previous test flights to check all systems and more than 100 take-offs and landings with the pilot attached to a cable.
The team is next planning to repeat the tests without having to use the parachute, that is, landing with the same system that makes them take off.
