Yeah I don't think I have the willpower to work for years for inches. But one thing I find funny is that if this were achieved and was viable and easy, it would not have any place as a transportation device. Sure it sounds like a great idea until you take into account that thousands of people would be piloting them, the jetpack also has the same problems.
I think it's obviously not about viability but about the engineering challenge. That said, it may lead to technology and designs that are viable in other ways, right? I feel like challenging yourself to do something new and unprecedented is almost always valuable to one degree or another.
Yeah I know its not being done because of viability, it's for the very sake of saying it can be done( also the prize money isn't bad either). But it could be a major step for ultra-light aircraft. NASA has flown a solar powered ultra-light for 2 weeks straight, this opens up a whole worlds of possibility, literally, Ultra-light aircraft could be used to survey the gas giants.