AN Australian entrepreneur has made history by becoming the first person to fly a jet pack around the Statue of Liberty.

    David Mayman has spent 10 years developing his JB-9 jet pack, and hopes the stunt will attract customers.

    “After 10 years of working together, Nelson and I have finally launched our jet pack in public when I flew around the Statue of Liberty in New York and what an extraordinary location to do it,” he said.

    “We are truly privileged and humbled,” said Mayman after touching down.

    “The authorities and people of New York and New Jersey could not have been more helpful and our thanks.”

    The JB-9 is small enough to sit in the back seat of a car but powerful enough to fly thousands of feet high.

    It is powered by two turbine jet engines that have been specially adapted.

    “After many years of development and testing, the JB-9 is the smallest and lightest jet pack ever created,” the firm boasts.

    “It is certainly the only jet pack ever built that can be carried on the pilot’s back with relative ease — even when fully fueled.”

    The JB-9 jet pack, approved for the flight by the FAA and U.S. Coast Guard was developed by legendary Hollywood inventor (and winner of 3 Academy Awards), Nelson Tyler, who worked on the Rocketbelt flight project at the 1984 Olympics, and Mayman.

    The miniature jet-turbine backpack is fast, powerful, and unlike rocket-powered belts, safe and practical to operate.

    Mayman, a successful technology and mining entrepreneur, is also an accomplished helicopter and fixed wing pilot.

    “It was an incredible experience, one I have been dreaming of since I was a young boy, it’s the culmination of decades of work by Nelson and me,” he said.

    “But today is just the beginning.

    “We have established the company JetPack Aviation to continue R&D and commercialize our invention.

    “We have just proved that personal flight is a reality, it’s here and we will stay at the forefront of this.”

    The pair hope the invention will soon become commonplace.

    “It would be wonderful if one day this opens the door to a vast new industry of affordable personal air transportation with applications for search and rescue, law enforcement, disaster relief and recreation,” said Nelson.

    (SD-Agencies)