Who’s Ready To Take A Ride On The World’s First Flying Motorcycle?

Courtesy Jetpack Aviation

Growing up, most of us believed that in the future we’d have flying cars, robot maids, meals in a pill, and all kinds of other cool inventions. But sadly, none of that stuff has come to fruition. But fear not, because many of these are closer than you think.. including flying motorcycles!

That’s right. Jetpack Aviation, the same company that makes a flying jetpack, just completed a successful test flight of their jet-driven flying motorcycle prototype. And if all goes according to plan, you could be soaring above traffic in your very own Speeder as early as 2023.

Jetpack Aviation’s Recreational Speeder represents the ultimate in personal transport. It’s fully VTOL (vertical take off and landing) capable and can effectively take off from anywhere the size of a small car space. Originally intended for military, government and commercial clients, they’re now designing a version of the Speeder for the recreational market. It will be lighter than most 125cc motorcycles, fully stabilized and simple to fly.

Flying the Recreational Speeder will be just like riding a motorcycle, but in the sky! Being fully stabilized means that minimal pilot training will be required, as the flight-control software program will do most of the heavy lifting. It will take off and land vertically from practically anywhere and will fly at over 150 mph (depending on which model you get).

Speaking of models, Jetpack Aviation plans on building two versions: an Ultralight Version and an Experimental Category Version. The ultralight version would be limited to 60 mph per FAA rules and a flight time of 15 minutes. And this one wouldn’t require a pilot’s license to operate – all training will be provided by JPA or one of their authorized training centers.

But step up to the experimental version (which requires a basic pilot’s license to fly), and the sky’s the limit.. literally! This version is expected to run at speeds of up to 250 mph, with a flight time of about 35 minutes. It’s also capable of flying fly up to 15,000 feet if so desired.

Courtesy Jetpack Aviation

While the original design projected four turbines (as shown in these images), the final product will have eight turbines, two at each corner of the bike to provide safety through redundancy. An updated Speeder 2.0 version of the prototype will undergo more intensive testing later this year, and testing is expected to begin in early 2022.

Barring any issues, the Jetpack Aviation Recreational Speeder could be ready within two years. As for pricing, one of these high flyers will set you back $381,000, making it a toy for the rich and famous initially. But over time, these prices will hopefully come down to where regular people like you and me can actually afford one.

The sci-fi future that we were promised growing up isn’t here just yet, but as you can see, it’s getting closer and closer each day.