The Great American Jet Pack: The Quest for the Ultimate Individual Lift Device

Lots of images and history.

Steve Lehto does an excellent job of telling the story of personal flight devices, machines which exist more in the imagination than in reality... although they DO, indeed, exist in reality.Lehto starts with the Bell Rocket Belt, the 1960s invention which allowed a man to fly without an airplane... if only for 21 seconds. Unfortunately, the brute force needed to fly a person without lifting surfaces narrowed the possibilities down to hydrogen peroxide rocket motors. And even THAT was limited and less than idea. Lehto also looks at the Thiokol Flying Belt, the Hiller platforms, WASP and the jet pack. The author's style is very engaging, technical enough to explain the problems involved without making the layman's eyes glaze over and is well-woven. Even though I've already done some reading on this topic I thoroughly enjoyed this book.Illustrated with photos and drawings.

This very interesting book describes in detail the evolving of the personal flying belt. The book describes the engineering design of the first hydrogen peroxide belts up to the final jet turbine belts. The text also introduces us to the major and minor companies and inventors who brought the belts into existance. In the book there is some interesting photos and patent drawings.There is some chapters on other personal lift devices most were designed for the us military. These were mainly ducted fan types which defeated the very reason these machines were built, ie far too heavy for a man to wear on his own. This book is an interestingread if you are interested in aviation

I found the book to be well written and based on real solid research, being able to read the interview with Ray LeGrande and Mark Voss provided an in depth look into project management and the events which disbanded the Jet Pack demonstration team. There is no technical obstacle to building and flying a jet pack or WASP II which is a ILD/VTOL platform you stand on like a modern day Segway, if you want to see it in flight watch the 2012 WASP Project video on youtube.For in depth information review: 1940 to 1986 STOL/VTOL, VTOL Aircraft,VATOL Rocket Belts US development.AFWAL-TR-86-3071,VOL 1 Author Bernard LindenbaumSincely Scott Watson

Definitely 5 star reading material. Well written book about the most elusive form of personal flight and those inventive people who dare to push the limits of our Earthly confines. It covers all those individuals who think outside of the proverbial box. Its many personal stories were extremely informative, insightful, inspiring and at times whimsical. I had a blast reading it and found its contents very uplifting (pun intended)

Arrived 4 days after ordering. Item was as listed.

great book

I was a child in the sixties, so I was promised by the media and my Childcraft Encyclopedia that I would probably commute to work with a jet pack when I grew up. The dream has never died, however this book helped me understand why it will always be just a dream for me.The best part of this book was the cast of characters involved in the development and promotion of these individual flying devices. However, while the author has written a nice research paper, he is not a biographer, and I felt like this book could have been so much better. It would have been really strengthened by a ghost writer who could bring these interesting men more to life. That being said, I plowed through this book, and really enjoyed learning the history of my dream ride.

great book