I'll take a William X-Jet, thanks. uber-crappy Youtube video In case you were thinking it looks familiar. Done in by the low thrust of the Williams F107, which also powers the ALCM and the Tomahawk; the X-Jet only had about a 250lb payload, including you and enough gas to get it in the sky. Build it again these days out of carbon fiber and you'd probably gain 70 lbs of useful cargo; trade it out for an F112 and now you're talking 470lbs. Someone oughtta build one. That shit looks like so much fun.
Ah yes, the flying pulpit WAY more practical looking than the HZ-1. Any idea what inhibited it's success?
It should have been an unprecedented success. After all, it would almost carry an adult male and the standard infantry equipment compliment if he skipped breakfast. The radio was only another 14 lbs, after all. And hey - it's not like a direct-bypass 600lb-thrust turbofan engine pointed directly at the goddamn ground makes a lot of noise. Militarily it would have been ridiculous. As a sky-jetski it would kick ass. I think the problem you run into is in the US, you either classify it as an ultralight (in which case you get 5 gallons of gas, which means 5min runtime) or you have to be jet-certified. Either way, the sucker is burning about $7 a minute flying around and you've got a williams turbofan greedily sucking the hair off your nuts the entire time.