Gravity.co's Richard Browning has put his extraordinary jet suit on sale and display at British retailer Selfridges. Those without the cash can throw on an HTC Vive headset and learn to fly the thing in virtual reality, where unscheduled landings will be a lot less messy.
These are wonderful times for those of us who grew up dreaming of personal flight devices. Yves Rossi is soaring through the sky on a jet-powered wing, Franky Zapata is tearing through canyons and racing Lamborghinis on his Flyboard Air, and David Mayman is seemingly everywhere, demonstrating his JB-series jetpacks. This is not a drill – if you want to fly like a freakin' bird, the devices are now out there and in advanced stages of testing.
There's no real safety measure for these devices at this point – even the quickest ballistic parachute's no good to you if you fall from below 100 feet (30 m), which is where you'd imagine most jetpack/jetboard/jet suit pilots will want to spend a lot of their time. For the most part, these guys are flying low and safe, trying to make sure they're not the first one to undergo a very public and colorful dismemberment that could set the segment back years in terms of government regulations.
But if that's not your style, go get yourself a copy of Richard Browning's Gravity/Daedalus jet suit, and fly it wherever you dare. This 1,050-hp (783-kW) beauty is on sale on a rack in Selfridges, London, for £340,000 (approx. US$447,000).
There's a virtual reality display, too, that lets you "learn to fly" the suit without exposing yourself to gravity-induced liquidity, and presumably Browning himself will train whoever slaps their Diners Club card down and buys the thing. You'll want to be in decent shape as Browning's early efforts at flying the suit make it look like a fit person's game.
Check it out in a speed/agility test below, where Browning races a buddy on a jet ski around a set course.
Source: Selfridges via CNN
