OSHKOSH, Wis. - This isn’t how a jet pack is supposed to look, is it? Hollywood has envisioned jet packs as upside-down fire extinguishers strapped to people’s backs. But Glenn Martin’s invention is far more unwieldy — a 250-pound piano-sized contraption that people settle into rather than strap on.

As thousands looked on Tuesday, the inventor’s 16-year-old son donned a helmet, fastened himself to a prototype Martin jet pack and revved the engine, which sounded like a motorcycle. Harrison Martin eased about three feet off the ground, the engine roaring with a whine so loud that some kids covered their ears.

With two spotters preventing the jet pack from drifting in a mild wind, the pilot hovered for 45 seconds and then set the device down as the audience applauded.

The Martin jet pack can — in theory — fly an average-sized pilot about 30 miles in 30 minutes on a full 5-gallon tank of gas. The apparatus was unveiled Tuesday at AirVenture Oshkosh 2008, the annual aviation convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association in east-central Wisconsin.

“Wow, that went better than expected,” Glenn Martin said afterward, his accent revealing his New Zealand roots. “People will look back on this as a moment in history.”

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written by Andrew