printNovember 7, 2008
Jetpack Dreams
How a former Baltimorean set out to discover what happened to his future
Maayan Jaffe
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a man… flying by jetpack? Park School graduate Mac Montandon (’89) set out to answer a question: “Where is my jetpack?,” in a world where any person, at any time, could strap on a rocket and take flight.
Montandon’s discoveries about the glorious future his generation was promised but never received are documented in his first book, “Jetpack Dreams: One Man’s Up and Down (but Mostly Down) Search for the Greatest Invention That Never Was” (De Capo Press). Born and raised in Mt. Washington, Montandon, now a New York journalist, told iNSIDER it took him almost four years to research and write the work. Along the way he stumbled upon an entire jetpack society — Internet forums for jetpack enthusiasts, jetpack conventions and even a case of kidnapping, imprisonment and murder.
iNSIDER: Define jetpack.
Montandon: It’s a backpack with jets attached. In “Star Wars” (and) “The Rocketeer,” it’s a sleek and compact flying machine that affixes to the back. In its pure form, it’d be operating with jet engines.
How’d you get into the jetpack?
I came of age during the “Star Wars” era, when Boba Fett flew with his jetpack. The jetpack was lodged in my consciousness from that point on.
I didn’t think about it too much over the years, but I sort of always believed we’d be driving hovercrafts, have teleportation and other super-cool things.
So you wrote a book about it?
Well, the book came about when I found myself having repeated conversations with folks my age about the jetpack. We were all asking what happened to these things and why don’t we have them. I thought I could go out and try to resolve once and for all why we don’t, what is the enduring obsession with the technology and what that says about our collective consciousness.
When did the first jetpack appear?
Most people point to a 1928 Buck Rogers comic strip that ran in what was once a very popular science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. It had a circulation of over one million and it was the first time the technology was really popularized.
Why do you think people were instantly into it?
There’s this inherent, natural desire to fly like a bird. You know, not in a helicopter or airplane, but just free-flying.
When that image got out there, it resonated with people right away and it didn’t take long for the technology to start appearing in other works of science fiction and in Hollywood films.
Did you find any real jetpacks?
There have been many efforts over the years by trained engineers and “tinkerers” (to make one).What have been built are much bulkier machines that run with rocket technology and not jet technology. The fuel consists of hydrogen peroxide, the same stuff folks use to bleach their hair, but a much higher concentration of it.
In 1984, Bill Suitor, one of the Bell Aerospace’s original test pilots, flew his jetpack during the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games. That flight was seen by over two billion people around the world.
What was the craziest jetpack story you unearthed?
It has to do with this company based in Houston in the late ’90s, called the American Rocket Belt Corp. It was a partnership of these three friends. They thought they’d go into business together, build their own jetpack and then fly it at halftime at football games, Olympic opening ceremonies…You can get paid close to $20,000 for a 15-second flight demonstration.
They figured they’d get rich, but there was a falling-out between the three. Someone turned up dead. Someone else was kidnapped and held captive. The murder was never solved, but the third guy went to jail for the kidnapping.
What do you think life would be like if we all had jetpacks?
Going into the book project, I thought it would be wonderful, that the world would look like this fantastic science fiction movie, where we are all gracefully, elegantly and smoothly zipping around the world. Now that I have dug into the culture and talked to engineers, I have sort of revised that. I think there would be a certain amount of chaos.
What do you want to tell all those jetpack enthusiasts out there?
Just please keep at it. Those jetpack endeavors might be built on crazy dreams, but even crazy dreams can come true.
Mac Montandon will be appearing at the Barnes & Noble’s Power Plant/Inner Harbor store on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.