Jet-Pack Pilot Soars Over Gorge

[Teacher Mark 53]

By Jason Blevins

The Denver Post

CAÑON CITY — Eric Scott's Plan B was not pretty.

"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.

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.

It's Widgery who brought Scott's jet pack to reality. Widgery founded Go Fast in 1996. Seven years ago, the company's success afforded him a chance to pursue his dream of flying with little more than a backpack — a very expensive, very high-tech backpack. Jetpack International is now a stand-alone company, with Scott providing $25,000 demonstrations at events and festivals around the continent.

Within a year, Widgery expects Jetpack International to release a more user-friendly pack with three turbine jets capable of flying for nine minutes.

"I've always, since I was a kid, wanted a jet pack," Widgery said. "Who hasn't?"

On Monday, shortly after Scott's 75-mph flight across the gorge, Widgery was beyond giddy.

"What's next? A bigger canyon. The Grand Canyon," he said, flustered with the newfound reality of his flying machine.

Scott has been piloting rocket-powered backpacks for 16 years. Two years ago, a flight like Monday's gorge crossing would have been impossible. The technology wasn't there. But in the past year, rocket scientists have tinkered with the design. Tanks were acquired from NASA, delivering room for fuel without adding weight.

At 135 pounds, Scott's pack is the most technologically advanced flying machine in existence, said Eric Strauss, the Boulder aerospace engineer who designed it. Strauss was almost hyperventilating after Scott's successful traversing of the Royal Gorge. So many things were uncertain, he said in a whisper.

The pack wobbles at around 60 mph — and Strauss knew Scott would need to reach at least 75 mph.

"I knew he would have to reach his highest speed ever — his highest and the pack's highest speed," Strauss said. "He is so amazing. He is the best jet-pack pilot in the world."

Not that it's a crowded field. Maybe six people around the globe can pilot the jet pack. Widgery hasn't even flown his own pack off a tethered cable.

The scene Monday at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park was intense. Several hundred spectators lined the Royal Gorge bridge. Five years ago, in a similar scene during the first ever Go Fast Games, a skydiving athlete died after he slammed into the bridge during a miscalculated jump. The annual extreme sports event has continued without any problems.

"That first year was a catastrophe," said Royal Gorge Bridge and Park general manager Mike Bandera. "But it's been perfect for the last five years. I tell you what, it takes a lot of insurance coverage to pull this off — $10 million in general liability."

Widgery looked keenly aware that everything was on the line. It was his job to begin waving furiously at Scott to begin Plan B once the jet-pack pilot had been airborne for 25 seconds. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to wave like that.

He didn't. Instead, Scott lifted off the platform and leaned forward, gunning his throttle in an explosion of sound and smoke.

The pack shoots hydrogen peroxide, pressurized to 600 pounds, across a silver plate, where it loses an oxygen molecule, leaving only water. The transformation occurs at 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and creates supersonic pressure that makes Scott fly.

"Nothing but speed creates lift," Scott said. "It glides like a brick, so you have to keep the power on all the time. I'm just dancing on these beams of thrust."

About halfway across, Scott turned on the juice and screamed toward his landing zone, reaching 75 mph and hovering for a few seconds before gently touching down.

"I had no idea how fast I could get here, and I just found out," said an ecstatic Scott as he landed and was engulfed in cameras and fist-bumping comrades.

"The winds were blowing out there. I tell you, concrete never felt so good."

VIDEO: