Personal Flight

He flew too close to the sun. French extreme sports athlete Vince Reffet has died after a jet suit training incident in the desert near Dubai. The 36-year-old was the second person on the planet to fly Yves Rossi’s Jetman flight suit.

Ever since wingsuit flying took off as an extreme sport around the year 2000, people have been wondering if it'd be possible to stick a motor on one, and give it the ability to accelerate and climb. The answer is yes, as you'll see in this video.

Another stunning milestone for the Jetman team, as pilot Vince Reffet demonstrates the new ability to take off from the ground, then hit the gas on the carbon jet wing's four turbine engines and soar away into the sky.

In a stunning new video, jet wing pilot Yves Rossy has proved he doesn't need to drop out of a plane or helicopter to fly any more. He can now levitate off the ground using a new autonomous VTOL system that looks like an almost relaxing way to fly.

After ending up in the water on his first attempt, flying Frenchman Franky Zapata has now successfully crossed the English Channel on his jet-powered Flyboard Air. The 22-mile (35.4-km) crossing took Zapata some 22 minutes, holding speeds over 100 mph (160 km/h).

Seeing David Mayman flying his thunderous JB-10 jetpack in person is an absolutely astonishing experience. We were there to watch his "redemption flight" in Sydney Harbour and attend the premiere of Own the Sky, a stunning documentary made about Mayman's life by a boyhood friend.

​Boeing's race to achieve safe, quiet, compact VTOL personal flight devices has narrowed its list down to five competitors, each of which get US$50,000 to help develop their prototypes. Meet the Phase II GoFly winners going on to compete for a US$1.6 million final round prize pool.

Jetpack Aviation has leap-frogged its own flying car project with the announcement that it's taking pre-orders now on a self-stabilizing, jet turbine-powered flying motorcycle capable of 150 mph speeds, 20 minute endurance and 15,000 ft altitudes.

​Flying taxi services may take some time to arrive, but if you want to be among the first to pilot a manned multicopter, you'll have the chance in 2019. Lift Aircraft is preparing to debut a personal flight experience in an 18-prop electric VTOL aircraft for about the price of a skydive.

Yes, that's a head poking out the end of this terrifying personal flight concept. Called the Dart Flyer, it's essentially a quadcopter with a winged pilot cocoon on top of it. Definitely not one for nervous flyers, it's been submitted as a contender in the GoFly challenge, sponsored by Boeing.

Personal Flight pioneer and real-life Iron Man Richard Browning has found an innovative way to speed-test the aerodynamics of his Gravity jet suit. He's been flying up and down Europe's longest and fastest zip line in Wales. Check out the video!

The Zapata Ezfly​ looks for all intents and purposes like a Segway of the sky. You stand on a small platform equipped with a series of jet thrusters, holding two handgrips that come up from the base, then rise up into the air and zoom around, steering with your bodyweight.