Video: Jetpack soars a mile high ... then smacks into the ground

Footage has been released of the Martin Jetpack’s latest flight, which reached 1.5 kilometers over New Zealand’s Canterbury Plains over the weekend.

For the most part, the 10-minute flight went smoothly, prompting the creator of the jet-powered engine to hail it as “bring[ing] the future a step closer.”

But judging from machine’s rather hazardous landing, it doesn’t look like the invention is ready to go into commercial operation anytime soon.

The video shows the 115-kilo strap-on aircraft parachuting to a landing by hitting the ground on its side with a loud thump.

Thankfully the landing didn’t cause broken bones this time -- the aircraft was merely strapped to a weighted crash test dummy. But Martin Aircraft Company is vague about what injuries a real pilot may possibly face.

“The aircraft sustained some damage on impact, but we would expect that it is likely a pilot would have walked away from this emergency landing,” the company said in a YouTube video.

Martin Aircraft Company founder Glenn Martin reportedly said that no other jetpack has flown higher than 46 meters, and that it was the first attempt to fire a parachute from a jetpack.

The next step is to strap the aircraft to a human, Glenn said.

Martin had spent 30 years of research and development, as well as some US$12 million on the project.

Stuff.co.nz reported that the Martin Aircraft Company hopes to deliver both the manned and unmanned version to its first customers within the next three years.