Jet Suit Rescue Drill Run In U.K.

A British company envisions a day when a first responder will swoop down out of the sky to render emergency aid and it re-enacted what that might look like recently. Gravity Industries shot a video showing a man in its “jet suit” launching on the mission and landing next to the person in make-believe distress. The demonstration was carried out in cooperation with the U.K.’s Great North Air Ambulance Service and it might be something deployed in its rescue services. “We think this technology could enable our team to reach some patients much quicker than ever before,” GNAAS Director of Services Andy Mawson told TransportUp. “In many cases this would ease the patient’s suffering. In some cases, it would save their lives.”

In the drill, the man in the suit launched from beside a road to a woman who was pretending to be a hiker with a leg injury. The jet suit, which includes a backpack with the main thrusters and sleeve-mounted steering jets, propelled the “rescuer” to the woman in 90 seconds. It would have taken about 25 minutes to hike there. The suit uses a total of six micro-jets powered by either jet fuel or diesel.