Students in Bristol might soon be heading up Park Street ten feet above the pavement after Bristol University’s Aerospace Engineering team joined a company currently developing the world’s first jet-powered human flight suit.
The suits are being developed by a small firm called Gravity Industries, based on a farm in Wiltshire, and have joined forces with the University of Bristol to further develop the idea.
The suits involve the wearer putting their arms into sleeves with jet engines attached, and wearing a backpack with a jet on it.
They were first revealed to the public in 2017 and the project’s CEO and chief test pilot Richard Browning currently holds the world record for the fastest flight wearing a jet suit.
The Bristol link-up sees work on the suit happen at the university's School of Aerospace Engineering, and at the firm's base in Wiltshire, and saw the jet suit come to the Bristol Harbour Festival last month.
Bristol University’s PhD student Abhishek Gautam is leading the link-up between Gravity and Bristol University, and he supervises aerospace engineering students when they come to Gravity to do penultimate and final year student research projects.
That could be any aspect of the development of the flight-suit, from wing design to survivability during engine failure.
Turning the Gravity jet suit from an invention into a marketable product that people can use is the next step - although you can already buy one of the suits: Selfridges sell them online for £340,000.
“For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the notion of human flight,” said Abhishek.
“Since coming to Bristol, I have had the privilege of working with some truly inspiring engineers at both the university and Gravity Industries.
“Through my own PhD research and work with Gravity, it is my ambition to expand our understanding of aviation, to push the frontiers of aeronautical engineering and make the impossible possible,” he added.
There was another bonus for Abhishek in working at Gravity. He got to organise a visit from one of Bollywood’s biggest stars.
Akshay Kumar is the Indian film industry’s highest-earning actor, whose latest film, Mission Mangal, about India’s 2014 Mars Orbiter mission, is out this week.
Last month, Abhishek organised for Akshay Kumar to visit Gravity Industries headquarters near Salisbury, having a go with the jet suits.
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