The personal flying device is about the height of an average person and is operated by the user controlling two joysticks on the device.
Non-professional pilots can also fly their own planes now. According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, a personal flying device developed by a New Zealand manufacturer years ago received a flight permit from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority on the 13th, which will allow manned flight experiments to take place.
According to reports, this personal flying device was invented by its developer, Glenn Martin, who has worked on it for over 30 years. Influenced by TV shows such as Thunderbirds and Lost in Space in his childhood, Martin began developing a personal flying device in the 1980s that would allow ordinary people to use it in daily life without professional pilot training.
Glenn Martin first publicly displayed the device in July 2009. The flying device is equipped with a pair of 200-horsepower propeller thrusters, and can fly approximately 48 kilometers in half an hour when fully fueled. Its top speed is 96 kilometers per hour, and it can reach a maximum altitude of 2,400 meters.
According to New Zealand law, the weight of this flying device does not exceed 115 kilograms, so users do not need a pilot’s license to operate it.
Peter Coker, CEO of Martin Aircraft in Christchurch, New Zealand, said the company plans to begin mass production of these flying devices next year and launch them to the market in 2015, with prices ranging between US$150,000 and US$250,000 (approximately 920,000 to 1.53 million RMB).