Japanese soda bottle jetpack!

[The Frankensteiner]

I'm not sure if I believe this one or not.
I seem to recall the mythbusters busting it.

It's still funny any ways.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... ck&pl=true

[Jason]

I think the fact that the dude spins like that while still going fairly straight is pretty good evidence that he was connected to a wire in that part.

[The Frankensteiner]

Maybe he'd still spin though if the pack was loose and it tilted? It kinda looked like that could have happened. But still yeah I think it's probably fake. Although they show a pretty wide shot, what was holding the wire?

[arancarlisle]

I believe it. From looking at the video it looks as though there was a very strong initial thrust which had enough force to send him flying. His distance flown is exagerrated because he started off from a height.

Since he didn't have any aerodynamic control surfaces on him, his spinning wouldn't necessarily inhibit any forward motion. Also, the initial thrust was very brief. By the time he was spinning, the jetpack had stopped thrusting, so he would continue in the direction of the thrust.

Think of how an American style football, will still travel pretty far in a straight line even if it is wobbling around a lot. Basically this guy got punted.

[Jason]

If you've ever seen video of people being suspended on Hollywood type wires, the way he spins pretty much perfectly around the same point is exactly the same as how people suspended from those kinds of wires spin. Also, take a close look at the harness thing he has on. Just before the soda thrust, you'll see the bottom of it suddenly jerk up and forward (the direction he's going). He's being pulled up and forward, not pushed.

Of course this also begs the question of whether or not soda can produce enough thrust to even lift a person off the ground, let alone propel them that far a distance. A person has considerably more inertia than a football. To "punt" a person so they fly like a football would take a substantial amount of force. Could it even be done without severely hurting them?

So my vote's still for completely fake.