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Jet-pack pilot soars over Gorge
denverpost. ^

Posted on 11/25/2008 4:45:48 AM PST by JoeProBono

"There is no parachute. There is no safety net. There is no air bag. But there is 800 horsepower on my back," said the former TV stuntman who on Monday piloted his hydrogen-peroxide-powered jet pack across the 1,053-foot-deep Royal Gorge. In a 21-second burst of deafening thrust, 45-year- old Scott soared across the 1,500-foot-wide chasm, setting all kinds of first-ever records in the nascent world of rocket-strapped flight as hundreds of spectators gaped.

(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...


TOPICS: Hobbies; Sports; Travel; UFO's
KEYWORDS: aerospace
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He had never flown more than a few hundred yards. Never been near that high. He had only 33 seconds of fuel on his back, and some of those seconds were needed for starting and hovering to land. So he'd have to fly his NASA-styled jet pack at speeds he had never reached before. That's a lot of never-evers with only sheer cliffs and a long, long fall awaiting any mistakes. "Fear either makes people suck it up and get it right or they lose it," Scott, of Denver, said moments before he twisted his hand throttle and leapt into the chasm. "I'm the Evel Knievel that makes it to the other side." Except that storied daredevil Knievel had solid backup plans, like parachutes. Scott's backup plan was to kill the gas and save any remaining fuel for a final burst as he neared something he could grab onto on the cliff above the Arkansas River. "He knew if he didn't make it, he wasn't going to make it," said Troy Widgery, founder and chief executive of Denver's Go Fast energy drink company, which sponsors Scott and Jetpack International......


1 posted on 11/25/2008 4:45:48 AM PST by JoeProBono
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To: JoeProBono
VIDEO
2 posted on 11/25/2008 4:48:58 AM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: JoeProBono

Big ole hairy set.Good for him.


3 posted on 11/25/2008 4:52:30 AM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: JoeProBono

I want one...


4 posted on 11/25/2008 4:56:24 AM PST by Dallas59 (Not My President)
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To: JoeProBono

One wonders why he wore a helmet.


5 posted on 11/25/2008 4:58:41 AM PST by patton (Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; Incitatus is my President.)
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To: imahawk

You ain’t lying!


6 posted on 11/25/2008 5:04:44 AM PST by autumnraine (Churchill: " we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall never surrender")
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To: patton
One wonders why he wore a helmet.

Probably to attenuate the noise. It wouldn't have helped at all if he fell.

7 posted on 11/25/2008 5:04:48 AM PST by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: patton

Hey that thing could kick up some gravel on take off and landing.

He could put his eye out!


8 posted on 11/25/2008 5:04:54 AM PST by Pontiac (Your message here.)
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To: Pontiac

Skipper: Gilligan, you can’t fly.
Gilligan: I can’t?
Skipper No!
Skipper: Oh.
//plummets to the ground//


9 posted on 11/25/2008 5:07:12 AM PST by tenger (It's not their money.)
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To: P8riot; Pontiac

I was thinking, maybe his back up plan was to lawn dart himself in.


10 posted on 11/25/2008 5:07:24 AM PST by patton (Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; Incitatus is my President.)
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To: JoeProBono

11 posted on 11/25/2008 5:07:24 AM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: patton

LOL!


12 posted on 11/25/2008 5:08:17 AM PST by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: JoeProBono; hellinahandcart; Lil'freeper; big'ol_freeper

I saw this on TV this morning.

I want one!!!


13 posted on 11/25/2008 5:09:18 AM PST by sauropod (An expression of deep worry and concern failed to cross either of Zaphod's faces - hitchhiker's guid)
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To: All

14 posted on 11/25/2008 5:09:40 AM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: JoeProBono
He had only 33 seconds of fuel on his back

From what I've heard that's the total amount of fly time these things have. Not good if you're stuck in a traffic jam.

15 posted on 11/25/2008 5:12:25 AM PST by McGruff
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To: All

16 posted on 11/25/2008 5:13:48 AM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: patton
One wonders why he wore a helmet.

Bird strikes? Keep the bugs off his face?

During the development of the Veyron 16-4 a bird hit the cast aluminum grill while the car was going 200 mph and blew through the grill and the radiator. They replaced the cast aluminum grill with a forged titanium one to prevent that from happening in the future. (for $1,675,000 you get quality)

17 posted on 11/25/2008 5:21:52 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government,)
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To: from occupied ga

I did not know that one couuld forge titanium.


18 posted on 11/25/2008 5:25:23 AM PST by patton (Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; Incitatus is my President.)
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To: JoeProBono

Just watched the video. The guy’s got stones, I’ll give him that.

Sweet landing, too.


19 posted on 11/25/2008 5:31:02 AM PST by DemforBush (Millions of conservatives have got your back, Sarah!)
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To: JoeProBono

How does a person get authorization to do something like this?

Or do you just hook the pack onto your back and go for it?

Remarkable!


20 posted on 11/25/2008 5:34:50 AM PST by RexBeach ("There is no such thing as a good tax." Winston Churchill)
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