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Now you can own a device which would enable you to fly like a bird. But you have to pay a handsome amount for that. New Zealand based innovator Glenn Martin has launched a 110kg piano-sized contraption that people settle into, rather than strap on, and fly.

The Martin jet-pack can – in theory – fly an average-sized pilot about 50 kilometers in 30 minutes on a full 20 litre tank of fuel. The apparatus was unveiled at Air Venture Oshkosh 2008 in the US, the annual convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Martin predicts the $1,00,000 jet-packs will start out as toys for the wealthy. Then, as law enforcement officials become more familiar with them, Martin envisions jet-packs used by the military, border-patrol officials and search-and-rescue teams. His white jet-pack with black trim stands on a brick-sized base with two legs sprawled behind it. The pilot steps backward into the straps of a shoulder harness, his shoulder blades resting against two wide upward-facing fans that provide the thrust.

There’s an emergency parachute that’s effective above about 400 feet, and an impact-absorbing undercarriage that can soften a rough landing or short fall, Martin said.

He’s still refining the safety features for those heights in between.