CC Image courtesy of Miyem Supriyati on Flickr
Iron Man is a fictional superhero who has an armoured suit which allows him to fly about fighting bad guys. Watching the Iron Man movies one can’t help but drool at the thought of being able to fly like a bird, free to soar the skies.
You see, the thing is the dream seems attainable because although Iron Man is a fictional character, he does not have any special superpowers as he uses his engineering knowledge to achieve his impressive feats. He himself is just a normal human being like you and me.
That realisation inspired one Richard Browning (real life Briton) to found Gravity Industries whose mission is to,
Build an inspirational technology company by re-imagining the future of human flight and pioneering aeronautical innovation.
The company was founded just eight months ago in March 2017 and has made so much progress in that short time they have a world record to their name.
Richard Browning, the founder and chief test pilot set the world record for fastest speed in a body controlled jet engine powered suit. He reached a top speed of 51.53km/hr. An adjudicator was present to make sure the test was done properly. The minimum distance to be covered was 100m and Browning made three attempts with the third one achieving the world record.
You can watch him in action here.
The suit is made up of six kerosene-fuelled micro gas turbines, each with 22 kg of thrust. It is controlled by human body movement and not remotely so the man in the suit is in full control.
The Gravity Industries team and other geniuses around the world will continue to improve these suits and who knows, in 20 years we could all be zooming about in Iron Man like suits to work. Before that they still have to make the suits safer, easier to control, more fuel efficient and then present a package that is affordable.
What say you? Is this the future of travel? Or is it the humble electric bike? Let us know in the comments below.
5 comments
Wish I was younger… So I could use one of these in the Future…. Who knows a solar powered one
I think many of us would like that mode of flying more than driving around. That’s for short distances. One can imagine exploring the neighbourhood and tourist sites. The attraction is in the total control of the bird’s eye view.
And no road blocks
As police, we will put air blocks kkk
ahaha jus trying to imagine the ammendments that will happen in the aviation act…”haungobhururuki muchadenga umo” as you pleases…Ahaha