Mac Montandon has written for the New York Times, New York, Details, Radar and Spin, among others. He is the editor of Innocent When You Dream: The Tom Waits Reader, and is founding editor of The Silence of the City. His book, Jetpack Dreams: One Man's Up and Down (But Mostly Down) Search for the Greatest Invention That Never Was, will be published on November 1. Mac lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two daughters. He can be reached at www.jetpackdreams.com.

Blog Entries by Mac Montandon

Thomas Friedman Wants a Jetpack?

Posted December 24, 2008 | 12:50 PM (EST)


It would appear so. Check out how he closes today's column on rebooting America's infrastructure and developing technologies:

"John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.


Merry Christmas!"

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A New Jetpack Record Falls, as Pilot Does Not

Posted November 25, 2008 | 11:21 AM (EST)


Okay: wow! Eric Scott, a former Air Force pilot and stuntman, and lead jetpack commander for the Go Fast! company in Denver, did something absolutely amazing and gutsy as hell today. Scott broke a jetpacking distance record by zooming over the Royal Gorge in Canon City, Colo., traveling some 1,...

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UK Rocket Man Back in the Air--and in the News

1 Comments | Posted November 4, 2008 | 03:28 PM (EST)


Lost in all the excitement last week about Halloween and this week about something or other happening on Nov. 4 was this Inquirer story on the charming, English airline pilot Stuart Ross and his continuing efforts to build and fly his own rocket belt (like a jetpack but with,...

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A Campaign-Related Idea Nobody is Talking About

2 Comments | Posted October 13, 2008 | 02:12 PM (EST)


You know how when JFK was President he was all, "We are so going to the moon," and for a while everyone responded to this rousing notion by being all, "Sure, dude, whatever you say"? Well, anyway, it happened. "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and...

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Swiss Flyer Takes Giant Leap Toward Our Rightful Jetpacks

Posted September 26, 2008 | 05:55 PM (EST)


News of former Swiss Air Force pilot Yves Rossy's incredible 22-mile solo flight over the English Channel zapped around ye old Internets today and the accompanying videos are truly spectacular. The 49-year-old, alternately known as "Jetman," and "Fusionman," flew to 8,200 miles in a prop plane before igniting jets...

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