The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) revealed a project in 2020 with the company Gravity Industries to make a jet pack that could be used by paramedic in some situations that could help to safe some people. At the moment, the first test has been finished with good results. One of the man that have proved it is Jamie Walsh, and have said that an “exciting and fascinating like nothing I had ever experienced before, I have taken to it quite well, it is quite intuitive”.
It works thanks to five gas turbine engines that produce 1,050 horsepower that afford to achieve 80 Km/h, and allows the pilot arrives to 3,658 km height. The pilot has to wear a polypropylene suit that is made with a 3D printer. In same tests that have been done, it proves that this technology has more than five minutes of autonomy.
The GNAAS director of Operations and Paramedic, Andy Mawson, has said that: “We believe that this technology could afford our team arrive to some patients faster than ever. In a lot of cases this could alleviate the patient’s suffering. In some cases, it could save his life”. For example, in one of the test that have been done, the paramedic that use this jet pack arrives to a patient in three minutes and 30 seconds, and the company calculated that this rescue by walking could take over 70 minutes.
The truth is that this jet pack is very expensive, only the three engines cost 376,000€, but it could save a lot of lives. At this moment, this gadget is in tests, but it is proved that it can save lives, so maybe in some years we can see our forces, the rescue forces, using this jet pack to save a lot of lives, like Ironman.
Adrian Delgado
