Jetpacks have long been a futuristic mode of transportation mostly confined to science fiction movies, but one California-based company is aiming to debut a new spectator sport around the flying technology in 2019. JetPack Aviation has announced the launch of JetPack Racing League.
JetPack Aviation spent the last 12 months running tests to see if its jetpacks could safely fly close to one another. Last week, the company released a video featuring two jetpack-strapped pilots flying side-by-side. In the video, JetPack Aviation CEO David Mayman reaches out to playfully tap fellow test-pilot Boris Jarry, showing just how close together the devices are capable of flying.
“We are all really excited about this, it is the first time in history that two jetpacks have flown together, we’ve done a huge amount of testing and now it’s time to get racing!” said Mayman in a press release.
JetPack Aviation plans to invite qualified teams to participate in trials for the league. The test pilots in the video are using JetPack Aviation’s twin-engine JB-10 jetpacks, which have a retail price of about $250,000 according to Digital Trends. The jetpacks are capable of flying at more than 200 mph. JetPack Aviation is also speaking with other developers of jet turbine personal flight systems with hopes that the new racing league will “become a place where other companies can also demonstrate their contribution to the future of transportation,” Mayman said in the press release.
JetPack Aviation’s racing series will initially be held over water for the sake of safety, Mayman said according to Atlas. The company has plans to run races over land within a couple of years. Atlas also says that the league’s racing format will require pilots to navigate around pylons and potentially wide horizontal barriers that a pilot would need to fly over, then come back underneath.
If a fan expects to enjoy their time attending any future Jetpack racing competitions, they’ll certainly need earplugs. The jetpacks “sound like a group of fighter jets going past,” according to Atlas. Jetpack technology may still be far from consumer-ready, but JPA’s racing league will be interesting to watch develop in 2019.
