Although it’s taken them 34 years to get it off the ground (get it?), FINALLY the Martin Jetpack personal flyer or whatever you wanna call it is a reality.

Hailing from New Zealand (no shit!), the creators have built their jetpack out of carbon fibre and aluminum alloys making it light weight enough to fly in tight spaces and remain easily maneuverable. More maneuverable than a helicopter anyway. Good thing this since one of their main target markets is the emergency responder market and government agencies. Imagine getting chased down the M1 North by a Metro cop on one of these. Bril.

(WARNING: the vid is a bit long in the tooth)

The vehicle itself is powered by a 200 hp V4 petrol engine that drives two fans for up to 30 minutes of flight time. Top speed is 74 km/h and you’ll be able to go as high as 1km in the air.

Take off and landing happens straight up and down and pilot qualifications are said to be easily attainable. The way I see it, this is just another means of Bashar al-Assad to skip out of South African airspace unarrested.

Control is reported to be a breeze thanks to the ‘fly by wire’ system which is straightfoward to operate and comes with its own ballistic parachute system. I should bloody hope so when you consider the price of the bloody thing.

Get it: R2 million plus
From: www.martinjetpack.com