Australian jet pilot David Mayman builds and flies his own Rocket Belt.
This is the story of a tenacious Australian Jet Pilot, David Mayman, as he strives to achieve his childhood dream of building and free-flying his very own Rocket Belt, only to discover he faces a nearly impossible task. Collaborating with the world’s leading Rocket Belt engineers David risks life and limb to become the world’s next Rocketman. ROCKET COMPULSION will take the audience on a ride that shows point blank why less people have flown Rocket Belts than have walked on the Moon.
Documentary 1 X 48min • 2010 • Finance: Discovery, Screen Aust, Screen NSW • Dist: OTF • Prod Co. 6ixty Foot Films/Firelight
GENRE: ADVENTURE/SCIENCE/DOCUMENTARY
This Rocket Belt was custom built and tested for David Mayman by TAM and is the most powerful Rocket Belt ever flown, said by the same and only Bill Suitor that flew test it in Los Angeles on July 2010.
April 2010
TAM test the new bi-prop helicoper rocket engines with incredible sucess
We did it again!!
TAM designed and built this patent pending bi-propellant rocket engines specially designed for helicopter use, this rocket engines are to my knowledge the most powerful rockets ever built for it's size and weight, with an exterior chamber diameter of only 1.00 inches (25.4 mm) they produced a maximum thrust of 45 kilos or 441 newtons or 99.2 pounds of thrust that is about 198.4 hp at the tip of the rotor blade.
In the pictures the rocket engine without the cooling ring and the water cooled version in the computerized test stand.
We got this performance with standard grade 70% hydrogen peroxide and alcohol, now we are working on the design of the 50% H2O2 version.
This rockets don't use a catalyst and they don't need to use "rocket grade" hydrogen peroxide anymore and we have unlimited supply of 70% and 50% hydrogen peroxide in any part of the world and the best is that this rocket engines will be service free with a life of about 3000 hrs., nothing to change or wear!!
Dic. 2009
Swiss Copter test fly the Dragonfly DF-1 rocket helicopter with the TAM rocket engines
Video of the first flight of the Dragonfly DF-1 rocket helicopter in Switzerland.
In the next video you can see the vapor trail of the rocket engines because the low ambient temperature that makes visible the water vapor produced by the hydrogen peroxide, at the beginning of the video you can see the warm up of the rocket engine number one, then it was shut off then the warm up of the rocket engine number two and then the two rockets fired, during flight you can see a very slight vapor trail and this is because the low ambient temperature of the air, note that the pilot wears a jacket, scarf and gloves.
With a little more temperature the exhaust of the rocket engines is totally invisible.
This is the comment of the test pilot after this test flight, "This is the most stable and vibration free helicopter I have flown in my life"
For more information visit the menu "Rocket Helicopter" at your left.
Nov. 2009
Swiss Copter fly in Switzerland the Dragonfly helicopter with the TAM rocket engines
The vapor you can see is because the very low temperature makes the peroxide vapor to condense, at a little bit more ambient temperature the vapor is totally clear and transparent.
The comment of the pilot was "This is the most stable and smoothest vibration free helicopter I have flown"
Sept. 2009
TAM and Swiss Copter test the new helicopter rocket engines with fantastic performance
Tests in static bench, in dynamic test stand and in flight proved that the TAM helicopter rocket engines have a power never before seen in a rocket engine of this size and with only one rocket engine operating at the time the rotor reached a speed of 600 rpm with just a single engine working and all this thanks to the fantastic performance of the TAM's penta metallic catalyst pack.
Jan.. 2009
Old Dogs by Walt Disney Pictures
TAM built the two Rocket Belts used in the filming of the movie Old Dogs with John Travolta y Robin Williams.
Dec., 2008
TAM signs a contract with Swiss Copter
TAM signed a contract with Swiss Copter, the new owner of Intora Firebird to develop a new one of a kind rocket engine for his new line of rocket powered helicopters using 70% and 50% hydrogen peroxide with a very special fuel .
See the history and involvement of TAM with this unique kind of rocket helicopters at the
Rocket Helicopter menu at left.
Nov. 24, 2008
Royal Gorge Cannon
Record setting longitude flight in a rocket belt by Eric Scott of Go Fast Jet Pack, part of TAM crossed with Eric this cannon to set the record.
We congratulate Eric Scott and all the Go Fast Jet Pack team for this record flight.
Christian Stadler Gladbeck, from Germany, was the first man in the world to jump out from an airplane with a rocket propulsion system strapped to his body and flying like a rocket airplane.
We congratulate Christian for his incredible achievement!
Christian's rocket system was designed and built by TAM
Eric Teboul, a valued TAM customer set a new rocket bike world record on August 19 at the 2007 NitrolympX on Hockenheim Ring in Germany with his Rocket Motorcycle. The new WR is 1/4 mile in 5.56 seconds and the top speed was 473.7 km/h!
We congratulate Eric and his team on the great performance.
April 28, 2007
TAM POGO, TAM Jet Belt and TAM Jet POGO
In about two weeks I will test fly the first and only POGO in the world built after the ones built by Bell in the 60's for the NASA.
This POGO have the same engine and high nozzles design as my rocket belts with larger nozzles and with double size peroxide tanks.
This POGO have a reverse configuration of the standard POGO ( in fact the standard POGO was reversed ) so the rocket engine and tanks are in the back and not in the front.
I will publish some pictures as soon it is tested.
This is a rare picture of a front engine POGO flying with the nozzles very low, even below the CG, a dangerous configuration! For the body and age of the pilot I guess is Bill Suitor.
This diagrams shows the standard POGO with the engine and tanks in the front that is a bad design in safety because the rocket engine in front in case of any spill of peroxide it will be splashed in the face of the pilot, also with the engine and tanks at the front in case of a forward motion landing the tanks are an obstacle and don't permit to step forward.
Next diagram is the reverse POGO but here shown with the very low nozzles configuration, this POGO for having the center of pressure very near or at the vertical CG makes this model very difficult to handle and very unstable also placing the pivot point very far way from the center of pressure makes the nozzles to form an arc moving the center of pressure along the vertical CG by several inches making it difficult to control.
The last diagram is my design of POGO with double sized peroxide tanks, the nozzles at the shoulders level with the center of pressure and pivot pin at the same place to have the most stable flight with the tanks full or empty and with any size or pilot weight, it will have also a very light carbon fiber neck shell to protect it from the heat and also in case any spill of peroxide, anyway I use peroxide proof suits with caps.
I will test it myself to see if I am right or wrong with this configuration that I am almost sure will be the most stable and safe of all.
TAM Jet Belt and first Jet POGO
Next Monday April 30, officially starts also the construction of the TAM Jet Belt, it will be powered by a single jet engine, with about 490 lbs. thrust.
This jet engine has no torque or precession effect and will be built 100% in titanium. This will provide the powerplant for a new generation of Jet Belt and we plan also to make the first Jet POGO in the world this will allow to carry more fuel without being carried by the pilot's legs, this was maybe the main reason that the Bell Jet Belt was not successful, it was too heavy for the pilot's legs and the next version made by Williams the WASP was VERY dangerous with the center of pressure at the bottom making the X-1 or the WASP platform to be a killer in case the machine passed the 30º of bank angle tumbling upside down.
The WASP proved to be very stable as long the pilot didn't go out of the CG limits in banking the craft ( is like being lifted by the plants of your feet, it can be stable if you keep the vertical but if you incline passing certain degree and the pressure continues you will tumble ).
December 2, 2006
Lots of news since the last time.
On Sept. 19 I had an accident testing the rocket bike, I broke four ribs, the right hand, the right clavicle ( I had a surgery to put a plate and 8 screws), I had a fissure in the pelvis and I had two surgeries in both legs for grafts and I was down for two months and I still are not fully recuperated.
Never had an accident like this even when I raced motorcycles.
Now I know of a lot of accidents related to bicycles some of them fatal, I really rather to ride my rocket motorcycle.
Isabel appeared in the German PM Science magazine in an article about Rocket Belts. (Visit her page and also in the Media menu to read the article).
The Rocket Bike is almost finished and I will test it very soon. (See the Space Age Racing menu and go to the Rocket Bike page)
I am working to try to get all the things I am doing now finished this year, it is only one month left but I am very close to finish both the rocket bike and the rocket kart, now that I can't fly the Rocket Belt.
Galileo TV program
Sept. 8, 2006
The first TV program about my work was broadcasted by ProSieven TV of Germany in the Galileo program, this is the information.
Today we did the test of the rocket engine and the trigger of the bicycle that will be the fastest bicycle in the world to run at a speed of over 155 m/h in five seconds.
This bicycle was built by TAM to break the world speed record.
The rocket engine is powered by hydrogen peroxide and has a power of 1100 HP.
The first test was done with 70% hydrogen peroxide that was used to cure and passivate the tank, a huge vapor trail is left by this concentration of peroxide.
A second test was done with 90% hydrogen peroxide and with this concentration you can see the jet totally transparent.
For more information and pictures visit the page "Space Age Racing" of the menu at the left.
Isabel Lozano, the first "Rocketwoman" in the world!!
Aug 11, 2006
The first Rocket woman in the world, Isabel Lozano.
She flew today at 1:30 pm in front of millions of people that was watching the TV News being the first woman in the world to fly in a rocket belt.
You will see her flying in many international TV documentaries.
In one of her flights she reach an altitude of 18 feet., too much for a first time pilot!!
All the information and a dedicated page with many pictures and videos tomorrow.
This Aug. 18, 2006 was filmed a TV program produced by Discovery Channel Canada showing all my work and ending with a flight in the rocket belt, it was the first time that Isabel and me flew our rocket belts in the same program.
This program will be broadcasted in Canada on Sept. 11 and then it will be broadcasted in the US, Latin America and Asia.
This Aug. 12, 2006 was filmed by Cactus Film the TV program "These Amazing People" produced by Teleproductions International Ltd., company that produces TV programs for 25 countries.
In this program is shown my work and ends with a flight done by Isabel, the first and only woman in the world to fly in a rocket belt.
Documentary produced by Axel Ebermann of Preview Productions for ProSieven TV in Germany.
This documentary shows my work and real problems that arises during the filming and ends with a flight of the rocket belt.
This documentary will be broadcasted in German in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
News
TV Azteca
Isabel appeared flying her rocket belt at TV Azteca Hechos Meridiano news and in the night program "Buenas Noches" with Edith Serrano.
June 5, 2006
First free flight in the white rocket belt with the new nitrogen booster I can charge the nitrogen tanks to the correct pressure, now the rocket belt have too much power, I was afraid to lift off to high.
Also I am working on the rocket bike, you can see the link below.
May 8, 2006
The rocket belts are flying and are perfect!!
I don't have to make anything but fly and fly and fly!!!
so I decided to work on the rocket bike to finish it and this week I started making the body for the rocket bike and soon it will be assembled, I have everything to finish the rocket bike, I just needed time and now I have it!!
You can check the progress of the rocket bike here
Today after 14 tethered flights I did my first free flight in one of my rocket belts, it was a very low 90 cm. (3 ft) high flight hover with a slight forward motion with a duration of 12 seconds and the flight was super stable, exactly has Harold Graham told me the I felt more secure free than attached to the safety cable and for sure more stable, all this next weeks I will practice every day doing small and short straight flights and then I will move to a flat open area to practice turns and slalom but I want to make it as natural for my brain as ride my motorcycle and do is slow but safe.
The pictures and video will be published here after it is recorded by the TV next week.
April 8, 2006
Three Rocket Belts ready to fly free
Next week I will test fly three of the rocket belts to see which one is better trimmed for free flight and from April 21 to April 26 I will do some flights for the German TV in a documentary that will be broadcasted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
More info about this and some pictures and videos later.
A very strange physical phenomena was discovered this week after a test on the screens of the catalyst pack, the catalyst pack screens that are brass pleated with the pentametallic metals are of course non magnetic but after they are put in the engine and it is fired 95% of the screens become magnetic, a possible explanation is that a magnetic field is created by the static charge caused by the hypersonic speed of the oxygen and steam traveling inside the catalyst pack screens, also something strange is that even heating the screens don't breaks this magnetism like in a regular magnet.
Also is strange that the screens that don't become magnetic are cut exactly from the same roll of wire cloth.
March 15, 2006
Change of DNS
Today the site was moved to the new server, the transfer was smooth and the site you are looking now is in the new server but I can't receive emails, if you are trying to send an email you will get an error message because the Internic must be updated and it takes 24-72 hrs.
If you are sending emails please try later until this new DNS pointer is updated.
March 8, 2006
Moving to a new server
Today I received this email from my actual hosting company.
"Your bandwidth has been lifted to the maximum. However your account was causing CPU spikes on the server and has
already consumed almost 20gig in just one day and will start
affecting others sharing the same server environment with you. At this rate
a site of that caliber is not suited for a shared hosting environment and requires a semi-dedicated solution whereas you are on a server shared with only a few other clients sharing the same server with you."
The demand for the site as been growing and growing every day so today I am moving to a new commercial server with the largest bandwidth.
Is probable that during the DNS transfer the site will present problems as well as the emails, please bear this in mind if you try to access the site and or are sending emails.
I hope that this will end with the bandwidth problem that caused the site to be down several times during the last week.
Question about the pictures:
I see that the bar at the training pole have a counterweight is this to get airborne?
No sure not!, it was added after the first flights to extend the training time and this was great because it allowed me to fly a lot more time reducing the training expense in fuel.
In fact I have a video when I was testing for the first time the amount of thrust in the rocket that I became floating in the air a few centimeters.
This week I will try my first free flight, how high, I don't know but as high as I feel confident and safe.
First free flight
I am preparing everything for my first free flight, everything has been checked and all the rocket belts are now perfectly balanced and I will try a free flight in every one of the three rocket belts I have now flying.
Bandwidth exceeded
After all the publicity from the Popular Science article and this week interview in the Kevin and Bean show at KROQ the article was posted in several places like http://digg.com/science and http://www.cofradia.org/
and others, the bandwidth limit exceeded, it was increased two times and it keeps growing and growing so please be patient if you can't access the site because it now have an unexpected amount of traffic.
It will be a special section for the digital edition of course because it can't be done by any other way, of a extended pictures section about this article and a short clip of video when John Carnett the main photographer of 4Time (the owner of Popular Science among many other magazines) was burned when he wanted to take a picture very close to me when I started the rocket for take off.
First Meeting of Rocket Belts in History
For the first time in the history of the Rocket Belt, two Rocket Belt teams meet and flew together at the same place, it was on my training site in Cuernavaca, Mexico on Nov. 2,3,4 2005.
Troy Widgery and Eric Scott of the Go Fast "JetPack" team and Juan Manuel Lozano and Rich of the TAM team worked and flew at the same site.
Here I am Eric's helper in his tether test after we assembled the RB for the next day flight.
More pictures in the gallery.
My first Rocket Belt flight
On Sept 22, 2005 I did my first flight in my Rocket Belt, almost all the family and friends where present to see this historic (for me) flight.
Listen the interview here
