Jet Packs May Be Only First Step in Personal Flight

Monday's death-defying jet-pack flight across Colorado's Royal Gorge was only the beginning, says an official with the company behind the feat.

Eric Scott of Jet Pack International (Jet P.I.) used a standard hydrogen peroxide-fueled jet pack to get across the 1,250-foot-deep gorge south of Denver, breaking his own record by traveling 1,500 feet horizontally.

But his entire flight lasted only 20 seconds. The maximum flight time for a hydrogen-peroxide pack is about 45 seconds, though one company in California has recently extended that to 75 seconds by mixing in a little kerosene.

Scott Rhodes, chief operating officer with Go Fast Sports, a sister company of Jet P.I. (both are based in Denver), says they're trying to break that barrier with a turbine jet-powered machine that lasts as long as 9 minutes in the air.

"It's got one engine on the top, pointing backward, and two facing down to provide lift," he explained to FOXNews.com about the T-73 model.

The turbine engines are much more fuel-efficient than the standard hydrogen peroxide jet pack, which is really a rocket because it doesn't use the oxygen in the surrounding air as additional fuel.

Jet P.I.'s main model, the H2O2 (after the chemical formula for hydrogen peroxide), has a flight time of 33 seconds.

The company's primary competition, Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana of Mexico, has one that lasts 30 seconds and that you can buy for $250,000.

Jet P.I. isn't selling its hydrogen peroxide models. But the turbine-powered machine, the T-73, which runs on standard jet fuel, will be available in the near future for around $200,000.

That price includes extensive pilot training, which Rhodes explains is absolutely necessary.

"When we hire pilots, we first test them in a big aircraft hanger where they're attached to tethers, and we see how well they control the jetpacks." he explained. "It's not easy — any small movement can throw the entire machine off balance, and once it's out of control, all you can do is ease off on the power and set it down."

For those rich and brave enough, there are at least two other companies selling, or getting ready to sell, personal flying machines.

Martin Jetpack, based in New Zealand, makes a propeller-driven machine that's really not a jet at all. But it has a maximum flight time of half an hour at 60 mph — enough to get you to work, if you live within 30 miles — and runs on easily available standard gasoline.

You can reserve one with a $10,000 deposit, though you'll be paying $100,000 by the time it's delivered (Martin doesn't say when that will be). That doesn't include the cost of mandatory pilot training.

Thunderbolt Aerosystems, based in San Jose, Calif., is selling its standard hydrogen-peroxide model now for $90,000. It says it'll have its aforementioned hydrogen-peroxide/kerosene blend model, which lasts 75 seconds in the air, ready next summer for $98,000.