Tue, 06 Oct 2009 6:13p.m.
Strippers who gave the most lapdances were chosen to try the jetpacks first
By Juliet Speedy
New Zealand's Martin Jetpack Company started its first commercial solo flights today, with the first pilots winning by auction on TradeMe.
And the winner? A Christchurch strip club - so it was up to four strippers to learn how to operate the jetpack.
Jacqui le Prou is used to dancing high up a pole, but she is not so used to dangling completely off the ground - although she says there are some similarities.
"I suppose it's just being up high, so you're not as afraid as being up high," she says. "And you're strapped to something, you're not on a pole."
The Calendar Girls stripper was one of the first to take a commercial flight on the Martin jetpack. To have it for the day, her boss paid $5,700 on TradeMe and rewarded staff that do the most lapdances.
"It's surreal," says Ms le Prou. "You're lightweight and you don't even realise you have this big jetpack on your back."
Twenty-eight years after the jetpack was dreamed up, it opened to business today.
"This is the first day that we're actually flying people commercially," says Richard Lauder. "We've got five people in, we're going to see how the machine performs for novice pilots."
Michael Bates won his flight in a radio competition.
"It was a buzz, oh it was incredible," he says.
Safety restrictions prevent the jetpack from going above two metres, but its developer insists it could go as high as 2,000m.
"We don't know how fast it can go, but we're trying to get it to be able to go up to 100km," says Mr Lauder.
What the jetpack founders say they need now a big investor and more money.
"We had an eBay buyer purchase three days here for US$35,000 last week, so hopefully we'll get a few more of those individuals coming through."
Fully funded, they hope they will soon be flying much, much higher.
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