Humans can fly! A myth? No, Paul Robert Jones, a gravity jet suit pilot, did the demonstration flight as part of the 16th edition of COCON-16, an international cyber conference organised by the Kerala Police in association with Information Security Research Association and Society for Policing of Cyberspace.
It was an enthralling experience for people and guests gathered on the premises of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Kochi on Friday morning, as they saw a man defying gravity and taking to the skies.
Paul, who arrived at the ground wearing a gravity suit, greeted the spectators before taking to the skies. As he flew back and landed on the embankment on the ground, he was greeted with a standing ovation.
While the first demonstration of the jet suit in Kerala was indeed a novelty for the spectators, for Paul Robert Jones, the trained jet suit pilot, it was another day at work with the latest flight being his 527th.
But how did this happen? Let’s explore the brain behind this revolutionary technology.
Gravity Industries
Richard Browning is a British born engineer, inventor and world record holder of the fastest Jet Suit. Browning founded the now multi-million-dollar organisation, Gravity Industries, after a 16-year corporate career as a trader in the city of London. Challenging the limitations of human aviation, Browning and his team created the £340,000 Jet Suit in two and a half years of trial and error to create.
In an exclusive interaction with London Speaker Bureau, Browning described, the Jet Suit uses Jet Fuel as a fuel to power five gas turbines attached to a light exoskeleton suit. He added that the wearer can accelerate to reach an excess of 50 mph and is technically capable of reaching an altitude of 12,000ft. Gravity Industries is now setting its sights on an International Race Series on its pioneering journey to develop a new era of human flight.
The company was launched in 2017, claimed to have delivered over 100 flight and speaking events across 30 countries including 5 TED talks.
Later, the company demonstrated their jet suits to the Royal Marines to test how their product can assist in Maritime Boarding Operations.
Venturing into new innovations, the UK-based company has been working with these jet suits on two fronts, with militaries and with people who just want a new experience or the thrill of flying.
What are Jet Suits?
The entire pack of a single jet suit is made of smaller units “to essentially push air downwards and that allows you to rise up. Because it is a suit, it is something you wear, it feels as natural and as intuitive as skiing or snowboarding or riding a bike or even running after a while.”
Moreover, as per available media sources, in addition to military operations, Gravity Industries believes jet suits hold potential for search and rescue missions in harsh terrain. At aNATO Mountain Warfare Rescue Exercise, they carried out flights in jet suits in separate rescue and military demonstrations.
Reportedly, Gravity Industries has now developed about six suits, each powered by five gas turbines that generate 300 pounds of thrust with 1,050 brake horsepower. Additionally, more than 500 people have been trained to fly the suit, including paramedics at the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), an emergency response charity based in northern England.
