Richard Browning built a suit powered by six small jet engines to fly like his favorite comic book character
Two and a half years ago, Richard Browning, a 38-year-old Englishman, decided he wanted to fly. Human-powered flight was, he knew, a rather eccentric idea. Nevertheless, it fascinated him. He’d tried gliding with wings and an electric fan motor.
Then, one day, he had an epiphany: what if he strapped a jet engine to his own body to build a real life version of the suit of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man? And so he set to work with startup Gravity. His intuition, after nine months, took shape and led to the first official test. And its initial flights, from a few seconds, now last up to twelve minutes. Richard Browning is convinced that “this is a very important phase in the history of aviation”. Daedalus, the name of his suit, represents for him “simply the beginning of a new technology with endless potential applications in flight, both commercial and recreational.”
The dream continues
(opening video from Facebook)
The Daedalus suit combines a lightweight exoskeleton with six gas turbines that provide a combined thrust of 130kg. Two motors are mounted on each arm, with two others positioned on the backs to provide the lift needed to support the person’s body weight. The Iron Man-style suit allows the pilot to take off vertically and fly using the body as the piloting system. The suit is still taking its first steps. There is still a lot of room for improvement, but Richard Browning is realizing his dream that, so far, has cost 40 thousand pounds, or about 47 thousand euros.
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