Check 'em OUT!: Personal flight- Springtail; Be Happy to be Alone and be alone to be happy!

You must have jumped out of a window in your home and enjoyed the jump. That is how it feels when you're on air for a couple of seconds. How would you feel if you're on air as long as you like, all alone... ?

I know it feels awesome! Trek Aerospace's Springtail Exoskeleton is a human flying vehicle. It is a single operator powered-lift vehicle that supports the operator in a standing position.

It can lift you to good heights and you can surely have fun. There are a pair of ducts, approximately one meter in diameter, mounted on the upper end of the airframe above the operator.

Each duct contains a fan consisting of five blades which produce thrust in the vertical direction and helps you move up. The fans are counter-rotating, eliminating the torque that is normally associated with a single rotor.

The ducts and fans tilt, individually, about a common axis for pitch and yaw trim. Vanes mounted in the ducts, just below the fans, are used for directional control. The power plant for the aircraft is mounted on the airframe to the rear of the operator.

The vehicle is operated by an advanced fly-by-wire computer control system.

The first of its kind is the "Springtail Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle (EFV-4A)." The Springtail EFV-4A is a fourth generation single engine powered-lift research vehicle. This craft was built for the express purpose of testing and proving our core technology.

This was accomplished on November 5, 2003 when transition to forward flight was achieved. This vehicle is still in service and is being employed as a test bed for further enhancements and refinements to the technology.