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| Ever since human beings first observed birds in flight, we have dreamed of flying like them. Although we are not built to fly like birds, we invented airplanes and other devices to carry us in the air. In the 1960’s, invention of the rocket belt brought humans ever closer to achieving agile personal flight. However, short flight durations, heavy weights, expensive and dangerous fuels, high noise levels, difficult controls, and the extremely high risks of death and injuries would forever hamper commercialization. Undaunted, we keep dreaming and express our yearnings in cartoons, science fiction, poetry, songs, films, and in our dreams. Today, it is estimated that about one in three persons have had flying dreams. |
Raymond Li, a Chinese Canadian living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, developed the Jetlev (abbreviated from the words Jet Levitation) concept in 2000. Since 2003 he - and later his Jetlev Development Corporation - have been conducting feasibility studies and concept development in Canada. In November 2004, with assistance from the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and NRC’s Institute of Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) in St. John’s, Newfoundland, research and development shifted into high gear. The first unmanned thrust tests of the jetpack prototype were conducted at the Ocean Energy Basin in NRC-IOT in January 2005, followed by the first tethered manned flight test in Florida in March 2005. John Myers, Raymond Li, and Frazier Grandison became the first three persons in history to take off with the Jetlev. Since then, three jetpack prototypes, four boat unit prototypes, 26 test pilots, over 200 flights and hundreds of revisions later, we successfully completed our pre-production prototype and concluded shakedown tests in August 2008. |
Jetlev Sports Inc. of Florida was licensed to develop production models and later combined forces with MS Watersports GmbH of Hamburg, Germany. In January 2009, the JETLEV-FLYER production model developed by MS Watersports made its debut at Boot Düsseldorf, Germany to the delight and acclaim of an astonished public and international media. From total obscurity, a Google search of the word “Jetlev” produced 2,480,000 matches just twelve days after Boot Düsseldorf, without the benefit of a single news release. The Jetlev is protected by US patent no. 7,258,301 with other international patents pending. |
