Another Martin Jetpack

The Jetpack is another of the long list of experimental aviation projects that eventually came to a sad end.

The project started way back in the 1980s, and was set up as the Martin Aircraft company by Glenn Martin in 1998.

Early versions of the Jetpack were overweight and underpowered, and the 2007 P-10 with its Rotax engine was a marginal beast.

MoTAT in Auckland now has the P10 on public display in its newly-opened display area in the mezzanine of the Aviation Display Hall

Not until the P11 could the Jetpack be considered to be in any way a viable machine capable of carrying a pilot.

The Jetpack project moved on, with public 'flights' taking place with the P12 in 2008, but success was always elusive and the project shut down in 2021.

I was fortunate to view a stationary early model in 2011 and the display flight of  unmanned P12 ZK-JMK at Wanaka in March 2016, an experience that will never come again.