“The first month three healthy men were afraid to turn on the turbine” - how Alexei Statsenko builds a jetpack from scratch





In October, we talked with Alexei Statsenko ( MagisterLudi ) about how he got excited about the idea of ​​building a jetpack, why he founded JetHackers, and most importantly - why he needed a jetpack. Domestic questions were not left aside either: how much does it cost, is it dangerous, why did the turbines not work in the mountains of Sochi, and is classic crowdfunding effective?



Pour the seagull, get comfortable - there are 33 thousand signs ahead. But for those who do not want to read, there is an audio version.



In addition to Yandex, there is a podcast on Ankor , VK , in YouTube , Apple podcasts , Spotifay and Castbox .



- Tell me how the thought appeared: “I want a jetpack.”

- It all started in 2014, when I saw the news about Yves Rossi, a comrade who flew with a wing. Before that, my jetpacks were only in my mind as attributes from movies and computer games. At that moment, I did not believe that this was reality, and climbed onto the Internet to check whether it was fake or not. It turned out the truth.



“Have you seen such a funny picture?”



... Brian, you can't fly away every time we need to seriously talk! But he could. And it was awesome.



- She appeared later, or came to me later. But according to the results of the searches, I thought: what good is to disappear, I will write news on Habr. The audience’s reaction was in the spirit: “Wow, what world we live in, it turns out I don’t know! There is already everyone who is not lazy to fly on jet gizmos, and we are engaged in garbage. " But then it was not a dream.



“And how did this move from pure interest into a practical plane?”

- There were several stages. The first - I found out that it is still possible, but not to us, but to some distant uncles. This can afford the Swiss billionaire or the military, and we - write articles and listen to podcasts.



Then I got to the engineering Olympiad for schoolchildren in 2016 in the "Eaglet". There, over a week, children assembled satellites and unmanned car systems with their hands! Crookedly askew, but everything worked. By the end of the shift, I tell the photographer Irina: “Look, here the small Padawans collect everything, they even work for them, and you and I only have photos and posts on social networks. Something wrong".



It sucked me like that, that children collect, and adults only discuss on social networks! He returned from the Olympics, climbed onto the Internet and found a high-resolution photo with this Swiss. I brought all the logos there, examined what was written on them and google it. It turned out that these turbojet engines are sold in the online store, anyone can buy them in one click, and in a week they will be delivered to you.



- To go nuts. Just on conditional Amazon?

- Yes, just a German online store. But there was a nuance - one engine cost 5 thousand euros, and for the wing you need four at least. And I began to think hard, where to get such financial resources as fit into an educational or advertising project, or in a start-up and investor history. Two years I thought and invented nothing.





Screenshot from JetCat



There was also an idea to find a craft design bureau, come and inspire them. To say: “Guys, look, the Americans are doing, but is someone doing this with us?” But everyone who could reach, looked with a grin: “They have a lot of money, they are minted, they can, but we don’t.”



Another two years passed, until February 2018, I so secretly dreamed about it. Then I watched the Tomorrow Land movie, where is the Land of the Future, with Dr. House as the villain. In one episode, the kid assembled a jetpack and thanks to him fell into the future. The girl asked him: "Why did you make this satchel?" And he is like this: "I'm tired of waiting for someone to collect him for me." And I realized that the universe turned to me in direct text and said: "Lech, it's time to act." This is probably such a starting point when I began to want a jetpack at the level of not thought, but action.



- Look. Suppose I also want a jetpack (everyone wants a jetpack), but I do not have the appropriate education. I can’t open CAD tomorrow and start designing. Do you have such an education?

- I had no money, no education, no CAD programs. Not even some half-minded people who at least corresponded in terms of competencies.

I just wrote a Facebook post on February 1, 2018. I printed business cards - 100 double-sided, for 400 rubles: "here we are making jetpacks." Well, then it started ...



- For a long time like-minded people were not?

- There was a hypothesis that I’m not the only one sitting and dreaming of a jetpack and that we need to “raise the flag” and say: we are supposedly engaged in jetpacks. And a lot of people who also dream, but are shy, get fit, and together we will overcome this situation. Partially, the hypothesis worked - a month later my friends turned to me and helped me to do a jet snowboard.



- So you have an iterative approach? First a snowboard - something with traction - then a hoverboard, and the jetpack with four engines will become the final point?

- We were based on what we have in stock. First, there was one engine for 300,000 ₽. Enough for one, but not for two. They began to think what can be done with one engine, and test it at the stand in every way: how much it pulls, how it starts, how it slows down, how it reacts to control. And then it became boring and depressing to tie it to a table, let's tie it to a snowboard? The same stand, just fun and you can say that we can ride without mountains, but on a flat surface.







We have proven that we can at least build snowboards. I hit crowdsourcing on strangers. Crowdsourcing failed: those who did not know me were not ready under any circumstances to give even 100 rubles. I ran through my friends. I say: "Let's throw off 10 000 ₽, buy an engine." 30-40 people responded - this was enough for the second engine. And then we already had the option where the engines looked vertically, not horizontally.



- I read on your Facebook that you met a million cool guys at MAX. What is the outcome? Has anyone suggested anything?

- First of all, MAKS is a festival, all the holidays go there, enthusiastic about what they saw. Naturally, there is half-business communication, half - on emotions. It is clear that there are some initial clues. And with manufacturers of turbines, and with engineers, and with pilots. But the conversion from this ... I’ve been living for several days and I understand that 5% conversion from words to deeds is good. Now we are slowly working on some contacts, but not 100% naturally.



“What kind of people are these?” Designers, pilots?

- Representatives of children's schools came up and said: let us give you a lecture. The organizers of the festivals said: let us come to our festival. And European turbine manufacturers say: let's work with us? That is, not with the Germans, but with us.



- And you say “Come on”?

- Of course I say: “Come on, here are three engines you put to me, and I'm all yours.” They are: "We will think." So far, everything is in the process.



- And how many engines do they pull? What characteristics do they have?

- Engines have been made by the German office of JetCat for 20 years. They have proven themselves very well in the market, and everyone who flies in the world flies on their engines.



- Rossi on the same?

- Yes, in 2004, Rossi began to fly on their 6-pound engines. If you look at his first little photos (I have on the site), then they look very “AvtoVAZ”. But they work. Then they already worked hard on the design: the turbine itself looks like candy, and the range has been expanded. The range of traction is from 10 to 100 kg. But the most popular in terms of price / traction and the most convenient are 20-, 30-pound. One turbine pulls 20-30 kg, while weighing three.





Yves Rossi in the sky



Then you add to this its weight, the weight of the fuel, the weight of all tubes, devices. And weather conditions give an error of 30 percent thrust: if it is too wet and too hot, the efficiency decreases, because there are all these Carnot cycles, adiabatic compression.



- Four engines are enough for a person and a body kit, just to get off the ground or directly “fly into the stratosphere”?

- The question still remains: how many of them really are needed. The manufacturer himself recommends using them not 100% thrust, but 70–80% - so wear is less. We're spying on Frenchman Frankie Zapata, who recently flew the English Channel. On different versions of the board, he has from four to five engines with a thrust of 30 to 40 kg. The most economical option is four engines of 30 each, and the fattest one is five of 40 each, which will lift almost any person.



- I read on Wiki that it is impossible to do a jetpack in artisanal home conditions. And you say that still yes?

- When I started, it also seemed to me that it was megasoldering. At first I went to official places where they supposedly should do this. There were such phrases: "We will give you TK for six months and will make it for a couple of millions." This piece of paper is the first stage of work, even without drawings! They asked from six months to a year and a half, and it was completely unacceptable for me to go this official way, so they decided to go cutting the corners as we could.



We ourselves made a box of junk from which each student over the weekend will assemble a prototype of a jet hoverboard, satchel or something else. It is clear that this is amateurish and should not be allowed into any series, and that professionals, when they look at it, have gray hair. But this is, firstly, a step towards reality, which will still have to be done, and secondly, it works and allows you to move slowly.







The essence of this design box is to demystify the complexity of the design. We want to show that roughing can be done from Leroy Merlin aluminum profiles. So that I didn’t have to go my way for a year and a half from “Wow, everything is scary, you first need drawings and study for 10 years” to “The first prototype can be done over the weekend. And then, understandably, iteratively build up competence.



Mostly 99% of the time was spent on some boring routine. Here we need a fuel hose: take this or this? Sifted through 20 fuel hoses. Some are too hard, some are too flexible, some are too transparent, the diameter of the third does not converge, the fourth dissolves in kerosene. Brutfors, let's say, we went through the dictionary.



- Today, what do you have in terms of the product you are heading to?

- There is a fully working sample that we tested in May at the Moscow Sky festival. He pulls 60 kg. All systems we counted on 4-6 engines. It is possible to fasten two more engines to an existing sample in one evening. If I wake up and at the threshold I see two wrapped engines encircled by a ribbon, I will fasten them in the evening.



- They are symmetrically arranged, so is it not difficult to add new pairs?

- Yes it is. The frame design allows you to fasten the third engine, and the fourth, and fifth. We approached the development in such a modular fashion that, in principle, you can drill and screw something if necessary just for testing. Now the requirements for our prototype are to turn it on and not to spray kerosene in all directions. Well, preferably still holding a lot of people.



- In the current configuration, the satchel pulls 60 kg, and what is the next mailstone?

- These are two more engines. That is, four engines and a vertical separation without counterweight, an independent separation from the earth at least half a meter - a meter. And then going on a steady flight training. How long will it take, I do not know. One person in the world knows this is a Frenchman, but he doesn’t tell much.



- Have you already tried to take off with a person?

- In May, yes. I dressed in it, clasped it up and on the ropes on a special stand made breaks from the surface. I am trying to express myself so correctly and I am not saying that I made the first flight in the world. No, we are all there on the ropes with a counterweight, comrades with fire extinguishers are nearby, it’s clear that it’s scary, but like that, there is a vidos.



“Will you invite any pilot or any of you?”

- All by myself, with my own hands - I will be tied with insurance. Well, there’s still such a moment that, firstly, none of the pilots expressed a desire to fly. Of course, there are always minted comrades who offer themselves to be tested as meat, but they are ready everywhere, for any movement. But I also developed an internal position about responsibility: I gathered, I try. You never know what. Just as in ancient times an engineer was put under the bridge that he designed and the train was launched, so I think I have such a responsibility that I should feel.



“Scary, you have turbojets, kerosene behind you ...”

- Between the legs.



“God forgive me, between the legs is fire and all that.” Can it explode?

- Yes. The first month we were afraid to just turn on the turbine. Three healthy men: one is engaged in military drones, the other three years worked in the Ministry of Emergencies and I was completely torn off. We just looked at this turbine and delayed the moment it was turned on. Already the snow began to melt, and the snowboard must be started. The little knees bend, the hands tremble, and in the eyes of excitement, delight, but we turn it on. And then it became familiar: every time it’s scary, every time then you eat chocolates so that the pens do not shake, but your eyes are afraid and your hands are doing.



It's like when you come to the zoo, and a meter away from you behind the bars of a tiger, you understand that he will not do anything to you. 100% safe, but he roars, and you, like an ordinary primate, squat and fear. It’s also a turbine - on some low-level protocol, it causes fear, because it is also loud. It is unusual for the city, it is familiar, perhaps for the airfield - the same spectrum of all sounds as the big Boeing.



It was a funny occasion. The organizers of one of the festivals say: let's, like, do an advertising action: you turn it on in the subway and take off right on Red Square. I am like this: guys, come, I’ll turn it on for you in the backyard, if one of you is not gray-haired, he will do so. They are: what, scary? Well, come see.



- Arrived?

- No, they believed in the word.



- Let's imagine that there are already two additional engines, and you have collected everything, tested it, it works. And you can fly like Frankie Zapata. Key question: what for? Is there any practical use for such a thing?

- For 100 years of existence, such a thing has not found practical application. And now the current projects are struggling to find him. The French, Swiss and British have come up with nothing but entertainment and PR.



- Or else a logical option - the military.

- They’ve been trying to push it for about 10 years. Either the military has, but they don’t tell anyone, or they are not interested.



- I look at all this and understand that this is a long-term project. Expensive, difficult, the results are not immediately visible. How do you keep your motivation along the way?

- In general, when I started the project, I even wrote that, “here I started in February, and in April we are already taking off.” I did not think it was a long time. Expensive is also a moot point. What does it mean expensive?



- Well, 300 thousand is just an engine ...

- How much is the MTS commercial? Or how much do they spend on coffee when shooting this video? These are not commensurate with advertising budgets, as I understand it.



“But it turns out expensive for you?”

- I did not conceive this project as for myself. For a mere mortal, these are unrealistic amounts. Even if you have comparable salaries, you still spend them on your mansions, wife. I originally conceived the project as follows: "we are a community, we can and will overcome everything." There was no such message that I am the coolest, I will do everything myself and you morning nose. The message was that the initiative does not have to come from the state, military or billionaires. You can collect and make a simple folk way, crowdsourcing.



- Disappointed in the community or still believe?

- A tricky question. I would choose the verb "escalated." I was both disappointed and fascinated. My attitude towards the community has changed, but the checksum has remained the same: I received a lot of negativity and inconsistency with my picture of the world. And on the other hand, he probably received equally the amount of positive. In total, according to the law of conservation of energy, it remained as it was. For those who behaved well and participated well, I have an overwhelming trust, respect, love and all that. And to those who behaved incorrectly, to those - anger, hatred, contempt. But in total [community attitude] has remained the same.



“And if you go back, would you do something else?”

- Most likely, I would continue as well. I would have set priorities a little bit differently, but more on safety net: I would have bought more buckwheat in advance, I would have downloaded more TV shows for sad periods. Somehow in the little things, but globally - no - I probably have not changed anything.



- You most likely know about the existence of Igor Negody - a man who makes custom engines?

- Of course, I know about Igor, in every post on the Habré about a jetpack everyone pokes me at him. He is a very cool blogger, but there are two nuances. First - he does not get in touch. The second - people who make engines, comment on his work as follows: many try to make engines at the level of specialized universities, even buy German engines, saw them, scan, reproduce. They look exactly the same, spit fire, make noise, but there is no traction. Therefore, the question for Igor Negod: “Where is the craving, Igor?”





- I watched the title vidos on his channel - there is a thrust in the region of 6 kg from the engine. And you need 30, right?

- There is up to 10 times the difference.



- And what is the secret, you do not know?

- There is a third caveat. On the vidos of Igor Negody, you can see how many people start this turbine, and in what mode it works - this is a very important point. Three people are needed for such an engine: one holds, the second delivers gas, the third regulates something else. The turbine, which is assembled in the garage, is very moody and requires the control of many parameters simultaneously in very narrow ranges. The Germans did their best and did very well all the electronics and flight controllers. To turn on the turbine with one click on the remote control - this has not been achieved in the world by anyone but them. Convenience and usability of the turbine is a very powerful factor for the entire industry, for the DIY community and prototyping.Before that, there were such engines, but in order to start it, three people needed to be, and now one student will cope.



- Tell us more about the electronic component.

- I have a remote control in my hands. I control it only with gas: I give an order - more or less - but I do not control it directly, but I give a signal to the controller. “I would like to have now a pull of 80%.” Further, the controller, based on the current environmental parameters and the state of the turbine, chooses the optimal path to what I wanted. I have no control directly. It’s like a thermostat in a room: we do not directly control the temperature with it. Therefore, there is a side effect: I set 80% of the thrust on the remote control, and this can be achieved in 2-3 seconds.



The controller takes all the burden of calculating and managing these parameters. It relieves pressure “overboard”, what is the temperature at the jet outlet and what kind of fuel. Removes previous statistics and sets the optimal mode. If we [manually] fail to deliver fuel or transfer it, the turbine will stall, and it will provide as much fuel as it needs, carefully and gently. And with Igor Negody, this is all done manually, by eye.



- He uses kerosene from a plastic bottle.

- I also have a plastic one.



- It looks like now everything will explode.

- In fact, a turbojet engine is quite simple. Even in the version in which we have it, it is the most primitive one you can think of. It is much simpler than the internal combustion engine of a car or even a moped. In an airplane turbojet engine there are several circuits, vanes at one angle, at a different angle ... And we have one combustion chamber there.



- But at the same time it costs more than ICE - because there is no such demand?

- Firstly, this is manual work. Secondly, the Germans achieved trouble-free operation and good traction. Engineers with whom I talk say that there is $ 200 worth of hardware. And at 4800 - the ability to collect it so that it works.



- Control is over the air?

- There is a connector on the turbine housing itself. This jack needs a digital signal. How you give it - by wire, radio, optical signal - it already lies with you. The turbine is then calibrated from 0 to 100. The first frequency is 0%, the second frequency is 100%.



- And how is it implemented?

- We followed the path of least resistance. They took a conventional remote control from a radio model for radio amateurs, which is on sale.



Source: JetHackers



- And those guys who are already flying?

- The Swiss has a wire ring with controls on his hand. Naturally, wired is more reliable. The Frenchman also has wires.

At this stage, we are quite happy with the radio channel from professional radio models. Naturally, then to increase reliability, we will have a wire duplicate control.



- What security measures are there? Parachute?

- Good question. Safety is why we don’t have such packs in widespread use right now.



- I noticed that everyone flies over the water. Although water can also be killed.

- Not all. There is not much water in Paris, but the Frenchman flew over the Bastille directly above the Bastille, and at a good height. I don’t know what his immortality code is.



But yes, many fly over water. Moreover, all the projects that you now see on YouTube - all to one fell into the water. I have a blank article with vidos where everyone falls. For six months I can’t publish.



- But the first thing that begs it is to throw a parachute on your back.

- With a parachute there is a dead zone from 3 to 70 meters, where it is useless.



- How to be?

- The code for immortality.



- Just take a chance?

- I'm not going to fly at high altitudes and even above the water, because for now I feel sorry for the engines that fall into the water. There they immediately khan.



- That is, not yourself, but the engines feel sorry?

- Listen, any motorcyclist will say that when he flies into the ditch, he does not think about himself, but about how much the repair will cost. I'm absolutely not going to be weird, I'm not even going to get off the booth and insurance in the near future. I do not know what the flight time and confidence should be for me to disconnect from the safety cable and make a free flight above the water.



I don’t particularly look there, but for reasons of adequacy, I don’t want to be so strange. I still have projects and ideas. No one in the world has solved the security issue in 100 years and most likely will not solve it in the near future.



On the one hand, the issue of security discourages the faint-hearted from the project. This is both good and bad. And secondly, I heard such statistics that cyclists in helmets fight more often than cyclists without helmets. The fact that this is a dangerous contraption makes you be more focused, double-check, reinsure and be more demanding on yourself, the engineer and the stand itself. We understand that every missing detail is potentially significant.



- Ready-made knapsack from the point of view of take-off and landing requires special fences, concrete base? Or vice versa - any pillows, so as not to break?

- For him, yes, if in a good way, you need an airfield, and next to it a fire truck and an ambulance.

I participated in a couple of festivals. Mothers with children come up and say: “Can we fly?” I laughed it off and said: “Now we’ll go around the corner and fly.” But the serious answer is this: come to the airfield, get a pilot’s certificate of a jet plane and fly.



- Is a jetpack safe for people around and the environment?

- The turbine is extremely uneconomical. One engine eats 1 liter of kerosene per minute. Microturbines are extremely fuel inefficient and have a fairly large carbon footprint. This is one of their disadvantages for use as a transport. Their efficiency is 2-3 times lower than that of an airplane. With the carbon footprint, everything is bad. But when it’s not massively - a piece product - it is acceptable. During our project, we burned 40 liters of kerosene. It is not enough.



- Thrifty.

“Well, because there is no reason to burn too much.”



- What speed is it developing?

- Initially, these engines were used for military drones and for targets. It is up to 700 km / h and the lift ceiling is up to 10 km.



- You can fly next to airliners.

- Here against such clever people in the microcontroller there is a height limit of 5 thousand feet. We ran into him funny. By the time we built the snowboard, in Moscow the snow was over, and we went to look for it in Sochi, in the mountains. We climbed the cable car to a height where there is still snow - the turbine turns on, but it runs at idle and does not give traction. We call the manufacturer and ask: what is it? They respond with a height limit. What to do, let's go to Karelia. We went from Sochi to Petrozavodsk by direct route, there we found snow at a low altitude and filmed the vidos where we experience snowboarding at speed.

But if you are an institution and you write an official letter to the Germans, they can remove the restriction. Give some kind of activation key.



- Have you tried an attraction where you can fly on water jets?

- Those who want to practice, I send to the water flyboard. These water gizmos were invented by the same Frenchman who flew the English Channel. He started as an athlete, a rider on jet skis. Then he came up with a water flyboard in two form factors: to put on his legs and in the form of a satchel.





Last summer we tried everything and learned to fly. But then they realized that the satchel is a complete garbage in terms of handling. And that which clings to the legs is much cooler than a knapsack. The comparison is: you ride either a tricycle or a unicycle. A tricycle is a hoverboard on its feet, and a one-wheeled is in the shape of a backpack. This is a counterintuitive discovery, we ourselves were surprised when we tried.



- Do you need to control them with your body exclusively?

- On a thing that clings to its legs, yes. There you are completely stuck in a snowboard. In the case with a backpack, the control arcs go into the hands with which you reject the movement of the jets. And with his hands, a person controls his balance very poorly, and well with his feet. When you control your hands, it’s the same as riding a snowboard in your hands. The same level of difficulty.



- From the outside it seems that this is some kind of game.

- This is counterintuitive, but the one that is put on your feet is very simple. And I laid the hour and a half - two for training. I looked at the money, I think: I’ll probably pull, but I need to work. It turned out less.



The record was set by a man who stood up in 2-3 minutes. But he has all the boards in the background that are: wakeboard, snowboard, longboard, all skis. Those who lie on the couch and do not even play football will take 10-12 minutes.



- How much does one flight on a water attraction cost?

- 15 minutes - 2 thousand rubles. But in 10 minutes, any person masters, surprisingly simple.



- It turns out that this Frenchman came up with a business model.

- The Frenchman was very lucky that he felt for a niche with water attractions. It’s straight very cool: on the water, and it’s safe, and the resort, and the people are disposed to this.

When he moved to the fire gizmos in the 16th year and set a Guinness record in France, flying 200 meters, the French aviation gendarmerie came to him and forbade him to fly. They say: "we will close you if you turn it on again." He said OK and went to America to train the American military. It took them three years to realize their mistake, and this spring they invited him to their victory parade. It seems to be reconciled.



- Can you get it on a monetary plane?

- I have already said that for the first two years I was thinking how to fit this into a business scheme. It didn’t work out. Therefore, at the start, I realized that the probability of monetizing is minimal. This was not a decisive factor: to start or not. I was ready to do this without the prospect of financial returns.

But there are options. The most real ones are marketing and advertising. Suppose you could fly with a cup around the stadium at the opening of the World Cup. The Frenchman takes € 40,000 for one flight. We could take less.



- 40k are eight new engines.

- Not only that - I see the world in engines now, and I recount everything in them, and I consider the weight of people in turbines and money. Every 30 kg that you have eaten is 5 thousand extra euros.

The most real thing about monetization is marketing advertising. And the second, the option that I would most like to develop is a learning-inspiring story. Now, students in robotics lessons are collecting strange watering plants. Although it is quite realistic to assemble structures that could potentially become jetpacks and hoverboards. My same box - put the engines and already flew.

I would like to see a world in which both adults and young people understand that cool gizmos are not worth space money and it is not necessary to develop TK for two years. You can start with something simple, small, garage, and then, having understood the product market fit, watch, go into series or not. I would like people to go from watching YouTube to at least what Igor Negoda is doing. Let it not give traction, let it look like something from a landfill, but the people did something with their hands, tried, tried. And not just like and set reposts.



- That is, Negoda is still well done?

- He is very well done. I believe that he has great success in what he achieved as a video blogger. His message is that you no longer need to comment, but do something with your hands. He broke ice, he completed many tasks before me. He has trodden a path, and it’s easier for me to go either by adjusting to it or, on the contrary, by building up. I compare myself with him, saying why our design features are better or worse than him.



- Speaking of trodden paths. After all, your logo was made by Lebedev Studio . That helped?

- I joke that at least the logo in the project was made by professionals. The logo is one of those things that you will later change FIGs or it is very expensive. What we can do from Leroy Merlin and scotch tape is done, but the key moments, I think, should be done by super cool dudes.



Are we talking about the logo now? This is an indicator. [Order a logo from Lebedev] a reason for conversation, an additional lead for the creative class. I set this goal - to reach recognition among non-technical audiences.



- The traffic to the site increased?

- FIG track. But designers turned to me and just idly staggering around Lebedev’s sites: “Oh yes, we saw, we found out about you because of the logo.” For me, this is an indicator that it worked. At MAX, they came up to me and even said: “What a beautiful logo you have, can we get such an icon?”



I roughly calculated how many times this logo will be shown in the future, if all goes well. Judging by the tens of millions of views of videos by foreign comrades, in terms of showing this logo is worth a penny.



- Does the project need any help?

- The project was originally conceived not as a project of one person, but as a project of enthusiasts. My policy is such that everyone can come and take part in this: starting from drilling aluminum, ending with composing a song.







I am open to all such things. The Petersburg digital artist drew a couple of art concepts about the future - I will soon write about it on HabrĂŠ. Some track can be fucked up. The range of involvement is as wide as possible, I wanted it to be not only an engineering achievement, but also a cultural one.





“ Wall of Honor ” - those who somehow participated in the development of JetHackers



Someone just says: I’ll pour you money, let's meet, I will give only cash. Someone says that a site can pay. Habr provides a site for blogging. Therefore, I do not impose, but if someone already realized that this is “Wow, I want to be next to such a cool project,” I’m only for it. I write a lot about the current state of affairs. You can find me on Habré, on Facebook, in any social network I am. This is such a test for the strength of desire - whoever wants to find will find. As I noticed, people are divided into skeptics and those who already really want to help a lot. There is no middle ground. Skeptics cannot be convinced, and those who already really want to help, please contact, write.



- Did you think about crowdfunding?

- We already had one round of crowdfunding. We collected on one engine. Now there is a less aggressive gathering for another one - you can also find me and ask about this.

Crowdfunding is such a tricky scheme: it’s accepted that you need to give something away for crowdfunding. If I were to publish a book or record music, it’s easy to share a digital copy. What to share [with us] is not an easy question.



Stickers have a good margin, but how much money you can ask for a sticker ... How much money would you give for a sticker? Well, 100 rubles. And how to make delivery? [Profit] logistics begins to devour. The same T-shirts have a very high cost - we will support the T-shirt manufacturer more than me.



That successful crowdfunding for the previous engine, which was held by good friends, sounded like this: “People, I do not know what I can offer you in principle. You can say it yourself: I want this. You can support me, and there I will not forget you. I don’t know what it will be, but if there is something valuable, you will be in the first place - this time. And the second - you will become part of the history of a very cool project. A jetpack is a dream that we all put together into a squad. ” For many, this was already a tangible reason, and they agreed.

If someone has ideas on how to organize crowdfunding on the Planet, please contact, it will be possible to do everything on a turn-key basis. Following the results of a year and a half, I saw that a very significant contribution to the project comes from those people with whom we normally drank coffee, talked, and they somehow connected to this with a soul. From this, the exhaust is much higher than from hundreds of those who threw a thousand. As Seymour Cray said: do you want to plow a field with two bulls or 2048 hens?



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