DO EXPERT
DO EXPERT
DEAN O’MALLEY Talks World Records, Pushing Boundaries and Flying High with JetPack America WRITTEN BY: AFTON LARSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY: SIERRA PRESCOTT
einforced by three exclamation points and underlined twice, AVOID UNINTENTIONAL BACKFLIP is as emphatic a personal warning as they come. I’d been watching the safety video before my first time out with Jetpack America, and I was taking notes. I was the girl with a spiral in her lap, watching an eight-minute instructional video, jotting down helpful reminders. Because “ohmygawd” there were at least a hundred scenarios in which I was convinced would lead to deadly embarrassment. Thus, the notes. Unintentional backflip, hovering midair, bring it. My notes would protect me. As would my instructor, coaching me from land through the waterproof radio inside my helmet. The guys running this operation are like the guys who lived next door to you in college. They sweet talk their way through every missed assignment in your math class and have this frustrating charm that makes you feel cute against your own will. One remembered seeing the job for Jetpack America posted online and initially thought it was a prank. The idea that a water-powered jetpack can make you airborne still seems a little futuristic. But it’s real. You can fly. Since April in Mission Bay, while everyone around you is paddleboarding, kayaking, jogging, and bike riding, you can fly. Jetpack America uses the Jetlev (read: jet levitation) technology to pump over one thousand gallons of water a minute through a 33-foot hose connected to your jetpack. It’s the thrust of the water released from dual nozzles attached to your pack that gives you wings. 138 |
| Holiday 2013 Issue
So long as you’re doing it right, that is. I don’t recommend you throw your video training out the window when instinct takes over. On your first flight, your instructor controls the throttle, which allows you to focus on steering alone. We’re talking micro-movements here, raising and lowering your arms with the smallest, barely perceptible adjustments. It’s a game of subtlety, but when your natural reaction is to throw your hands overhead in an attempt to regain some balance, all the note taking in the world won’t save you. That unintentional backflip? Did one. Unceremonious faceplant? Nailed it. The beauty of the Jetlev is that trial and error with a jetpack is still really, really fun. At no point does it feel unsafe or unsettling, and this from someone who fell out of a second story window early on in life. I get it, people afraid of heights, so don’t count yourself out. The Jetlev experience exists within your comfort zone. With ten tiers of tricks to work through, from the stairway to heaven to 360 spins and corkscrew flips, there’s some serious entertainment to be had at every level. Girls, you’ve got this year’s present on lock. He doesn’t want cufflinks. He doesn’t want a new wallet. Jetlev is jetlove. For my flight, Jetpack America sent out the best to talk me through the basics. Dean O’Malley, President of Jetpack America, knows the Jetlev as only someone who’s explored its every limitation can. After trading in a life on corporate cruise control, O’Malley took to the skies. In his short time with Jetpack America, he’s set a world record and helped grow a business that provides what is fast-becoming a staple summer activity in San Diego. They call him Superman. And me? Superfan.