Q Branch - SoloTrek Exo-skeletor Flying Vehicle (XFV)

Late in October 2000, NASA successfully flew a prototype personal flight unit propelled by two shrouded rotors.

The trials at NASA's Ames Research Centre, California, of what has also been called an "airscooter" have the potential to fulfil a decades-old dream of a device which would take the worry out of traffic jams, allow doctors to fly to emergencies and soldiers to leapfrog minefields.

The SoloTrek Exo-skeletor Flying Vehicle (XFV) is designed to allow a standing pilot, with fans 3ft in diameter above his head that lift him into the sky, to achieve flight at speeds of up to 80mph for over an hour on a tank of petrol.

Its designer, Michael Moshier, a former US Navy fighter pilot, believes that "the time has come for an aircraft like the SoloTrek". His company, Millennium Jet, has been developing its designs for three years with assistance from NASA.

Somewhat similar devices, known as rocket belts, were developed in the 1960s. They could stay airborne for no more than 30 seconds before running out of fuel.

Some experts were sceptical about the design. Roger Austin, secretary of the Royal Aeronautical Society's Military Air Power Group, said before the successful first flight: "There's no doubt it will fly, if the engines are powerful enough. But one needs to ask what would a pilot do in the event of an engine failure, and what would it cost?"

Although it might have military applications, for reconnaissance over difficult terrain, Austin rejected suggestions that the XFV might be useful for special forces. "I can't see the SAS being very keen on it because the enemy could see it coming," he said. "You'd be a sitting duck."

Nonetheless, with longer endurance and a less dangerous power plant than the rocket belt, the personal 'copter may find a niche in emergency work and civil policing.

STOP PRESS
According to the Imperfect Ideas website the Solotrek XFV is going up for auction on eBay, but the buyer must agree never to fly it.