When British inventor Richard Browning unveiled his jet engine-propelled version of Tony Stark’s favorite suit a day before April Fools’, we thought he might’ve been joshing us.
It turns out Browning was serious. As in setting-new-Guinness-World-Record serious.
During his record-breaking attempt across the pond at Lagoona Park in Reading, Browning hit 32 MPH and set the record for “fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine power suit.”
On a subsequent attempt, he fell into the lake.
Regardless, the soaking of his 1,050-HP suit didn’t put a damper on Browning’s spirits, although it did extinguish the flames in the jetpack’s six kerosene burners (which burn four liters of fuel per minute).
Given that unplanned lake trips are still happening on a semi-regular basis, don’t expect to see a commercial version of the suit for sale anytime soon, but Browning did say he is hoping to hire four or five people towards the end of the year so he can start teaching them how to fly.
If you’d like to get your Icarus on, send him your CV.
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