Jetpacks! Or, umm, Jetbikes! I think?

http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/15/1...acing-jet-powered-flying-hoverboard-interview

[video=youtube_share;KEDrMriKsFM]https://youtu.be/KEDrMriKsFM[/video]

So these guys have already been making a Flyboard Water version for years and you may have seen it. The water version requires tethering to a water vehicle that pumps the water up to the board.

They made an Air version and it sounds a lot trickier to handle, prone to crashing. They say that you need to have logged over 100 hours on the Water version before you can hope to control the Air version. But it worked and they've put up YouTube videos.

He tried to do a 2 mile run at about 80 kmph but they didn't realize that with wind at that level the stabilizers would drain the battery so completely, so about 5 seconds before he was going to land on the platform the batteries on the stabilizers kicked out and he had to cut the engines.

He's got some lofty goals. They will keep releasing footage as they achieve more and more impressive feats. In some months they hope to break a record of 3 miles somewhere on the coast of France, from one city to another city, and to land on a platform in the middle of the second city in front of a crowd of people. He's also planning a trip to the clouds, literally he wants to go as high as the cloud cover and fly through them (wearing a parachute, just in case). He has a goal to reach about 80 mph at some point. So far they've only been doing this over water, and only at about 55 mph, and they know that's relatively safe for him to crash and not get hurt.

The reason I say Jetbikes! is that further down the interview the guy mentions that they're going to use the same technology to create something that people can use without having to become an expert on their Flyboard Water, something that users can "sit on" and use. That would be their commercial venture in all this, if they have one.