British inventor Robert Browning just set a new Guinness World Record for fastest speed in a body controlled jet-engine powered suit, nailing a top speed of 85.06 mph (or 136.89 km/h) as he soared in front of the Brighton Palace Pier in Brighton, England. Browning, who is referred to by some as a real-life Iron Man, told Guinness World Records that he was “really pleased” with his new speed record, which is more than double the one recorded previously. Which Browning also set, in an earlier model jet engine suit.
Browning set the breakneck speed record at Guinness World Records Day, which the organization says encapsulates the theme of “Spirit of Adventure”. And really, what could be more adventurous than soaring over a large body of water with highly combustable thrusters attached to your hands and legs? Skydiving from a drone? We’ll call them about equal.
In a Guinness World Records post, which comes via Futurism, Browning said that he “was confident we should be able to…[obtain a new record] but that’s very different to coming here and actually achieving it….” He added that “[Using the suit] truly feels like that dream of flying you have sometimes in your sleep. You are entirely and completely free to move effortlessly in three dimensional space and you shed the ties of gravity.”
As far as the tech specs for the suit go, Guinness World Records gave no specifics in their statement. However, at least one of Browning’s previous generation suits, dubbed TALOS, or Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, used multiple Kerosene-fuelled micro gas turbine engines that created 286 pounds of thrust. It’s also hard to tell from this particular Guinness World Records video, but the suit is extraordinarily loud. Watch this Facebook video of him testing out the suit for verification of that fact.
Human flight has been taken to new record breaking speeds this Guinness World Records Day! Richard Browning of @takeongravity has achieved a new record for the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine powered suit with a speed of 86.06 mph at Brighton Pier, UK for #GWRDay pic.twitter.com/8ml7omxUsJ
— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) November 14, 2019
Looking forward, Browning says that he imagines some kind of jet engine suit racing league (our description), in which multiple people wearing these suits would race around a midair obstacle course—which sounds like it could evolve into a seriously metal version of Quidditch. Although in regards to the suit being a realistic form of mass transportation, it’s “not the future of transportation in its current form,” Browning said. He does think, however, that it’s like a Formula 1 car or clothing on display at a fashion show in that it at least provides a demonstration of what’s possible. “The first cars were noisy and unreliable vs a horse,” Browning said, “but look where that first step led.”
What do you think of this jet engine suit speed record? Would you ever try to fly one of these suits, or are you going to wait until something powered by an arc reactor comes along? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section and make sure they’re loud and clear so we can hear them over the jet engines.
Feature image: Guinness World Records
