Yves Rossi, a Swiss airline pilot, has developed a working jet-pack. Think Icarus, but without that clumsy flapping.
(Yves Rossy Human Jet)
The jet-pack consists of wings with a total three meter span with four model engines built under the wings. Speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour are possible. So far, the device does not allow powered take-offs. So, he jumps out of a plane, stabilizes his flight, and then powers up. Up to four minutes of powered flight at speeds of one hundred knots have been achieved.
Science fiction readers may remember the copter harness from Robert Heinlein's 1954 novel The Star Beast:
They were half way home when a single flyer, hopping free in a copter harness, approached the little parade. The flier ignored the red warning light stabbing out from the police chief's car and slanted straight down at the huge star beast.
(Read more about Heinlein's copter harness)
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'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
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'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'