JETPACK CONVENTION (continued)
The jetpack, or rocketbelt to use its proper name, has been a working, flying reality for almost half a century. First sketched in the sand under the wing of an X2 rocketplane by American aerospace pioneer Wendell Moore back in 1953, the Buck Rogers-inspired Bell Aerosystems rocketbelt made its maiden flight in 1961.
By the end of the Sixties, this unlikely aircraft had logged 3000 successful flights, one in front of JFK, and several for the Bond movie Thunderball. Its inventor even promised Americans would one day fill the family jetpack at the gas station and fly to the store. But that remained a Jetsonesque dream for two reasons: One, because the rocketbelt could carry only enough volatile hydrogen peroxide fuel for 21 seconds of flight; and two, because controlling one is like balancing on top of a giant floating football. It takes months of intensive training to master.
But today a dozen or so enthusiasts are building their own machines. Once he's ready -- which could be any day now -- Stuart plans to demonstrate his own belt at major public events. Until then only two are actually flying. And one is here in upstate New York, being prepared for takeoff...
Crowds outside the Niagara Falls Aerospace Museum, murmur excitedly as 43-year-old stuntman and former Air Force parachutist Eric Scott buckles himself into the Go Fast! Rocketbelt.
Leaning slightly forward, knees together, he gives the thumbs up to his support crew. There's a shrill, eardrum-searing, 150-decibel roar and Eric is momentarily obscured as the peroxide tanks disgorge clouds of dense steam bearing the bitter bouquet of the hairdressers' salon. Slowly, he rises off the street then quickly picks up speed and height, leaving an eyewatering invisible wake. He hangs briefly in mid-air above the museum entrance, then after 26 brief, gravity-defying seconds, it's all over: Eric's trainers touch down to a huge cheer.
With 600 flights over 14 years, Eric is one of the world's most experienced rocketbelt pilots and a member of a highly exclusive club. Until recently, more people had walked on the moon than flown one of these machines.
"I�m very blessed to still be doing this. I consider myself very lucky to keep walking away from the landings," he says, clearly cranked on post-flight adrenalin.
"Your mind is racing the moment you get off the ground," he rattles in a gravelly voice set on full auto fire, "It's an unbelievable feeling of freedom especially as you're rising to the tops of these things you can't normally climb. That's the dream part of it. It's a very serene feeling, almost surreal. I remember being a kid and flying in my dreams. To live a dream is the ultimate."
Beaming proudly from the sidelines is Peter Gijsberts. Peter is from the Netherlands, had never seen or touched a real rocketbelt until a few months ago. But without his fan website (www.rocketbelt.nl), set up three years ago, there would be no convention. "At first it was just curiosity," he explains, "I did some research and I could find nothing. So I started the website. But it ended in obsession to know everything."
The 'RB' community numbers only about 200 worldwide. But it's a close-knit tribe united by tremendous passion for this fundamentally flawed yet eternally fascinating technology. Wendell Moore, who died in 1969 is represented by his daughter Carolyn Moore Baumet. Pilot Bill Suitor, Sean Connery's rocketbelt stunt double in Thunderball, is here. So too is the man they all call 'His Eminence'.
Harold 'Hal' Graham is the undisputed star of this unusual show. On April 20 1961, Graham became the first man to make a free rocketbelt flight. The 13 second hop at nearby Niagara Falls Airport carried him 112 feet and into the history books.
His Eminence's entrance is pure panto. Graham, now 72, bounds onto the conference stage sporting a dummy rocketbelt, his original crash helmet and the same tattered black rubber firemen's overalls he wore for his last flight more than 40 years ago. Relishing the adulation, he launches into a string of anecdotes before whipping out a ukulele and launching into a song he's penned especially for the occasion entitled 'My Rocketbelt Daze'.
"Oh my rocket belt days are over, my fame is fleeting fast," he warbles in a rumbling, tubercular voice, "The task before you people, is to improve upon the past."
It�s a show-stopper. Now a part-time charter pilot living in Tennessee, Hal has been a teacher, computer programmer and local town justice. But here, today, the retired rocketeer who once flew for JFK is a superhero.
"Flying the rocketbelt was fun," Hal recalls, "But it's not a joyride. You've got a lot on your mind, a lot of concerns about safety. Number one, your feet have got to be on the ground within 21 seconds or you�re a freefalling object."
That limited flight time meant the invention ultimately proved a flop for the Army. Military funding was withdrawn and when Wendell Moore died, the project died with him. But Bell's most experienced pilot Bill Suitor was quickly recruited by Nelson Tyler, a Californian inventor waiting in the wings with his own knock-off version of Bell's rocketbelt and a new chapter began.
Movies from the Seventies show Suitor swooping suavely through treetops and over rivers attired like Evel Knievel. His record 1,200 take-offs include his performance at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (before a worldwide audience of two billion) and in the Nineties, a flight in the infamous RB2000 'Pretty Bird' rocketbelt (now missing after a feud between its creators spilled into murder and kidnapping).
Building a rocket belt is expensive (£100,000 is not unusual) and at around £300 per fill-up, so is flying one. But the demonstration fees can be huge, running into tens of thousands of dollars per flight. Yet for Bill, it's not about money: "It's about keeping this thing going until it becomes practical," he says.
Bill is convinced compact jets are the future. Back in the Sixties, Bell developed and flew a jet-powered pack which flew for 10 minutes at a time. Unfortunately, it was also the size of an industrial air conditioning unit. But if Bill's predictions are correct, 19-year-old Will Breaden-Madden from Ireland is on the right track. A physics student and private pilot, Will has designed his own twin-engined jetpack called the 'Shamrocket'.
"My final aim is a runtime of 15 minutes," says Will, "You could actually take people off burning buildings; Superman stuff."
For now though, most builders are sticking to Wendell Moore's concept. Except that while the original Bell belts displayed here at the museum look plain and functional, the 21st century versions are like hot rods; lovingly polished and machined from stainless steel, aluminium, composites and titanium.
Utility company contractor Jeremy McGrane from New Hampshire looks forward to flying his own beautifully crafted machine next year. "For me, it's not really the dream of flying it. I was just trying to build the thing. As far as flying it goes, at first it didn't scare me but now it's getting closer..." he says, perhaps thinking of Stuart Ross' video nasty, "Yeah, I get a little nervous!"
©Richard Fleury 2006. A version of this story originally appeared in Mazda Magazine.