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Photos by AmyLynne Hicks
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a man with a jet pack in the Redondo Beach harbor.
Late Wednesday morning, a “Jet Pack Pilot” was spotted across the South Bay promoting Air, a new brand of carbonated water with alcohol. He started his jet-pack journey in the Redondo Harbor and was towed off of both the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach piers to promote the alcoholic drink. Bystanders who saw the air-lifted man stopped in their tracks to snap pictures of the unusual sight.
“It’s very much catching people off guard,” said Air representative Charlotte Robertson. “Everybody’s first impression is ‘what is this thing?’ then they obviously want to see if they can ride it.”
Air founder Minott Wessinger decided to use a jet pack as a marketing device for his new product after seeing it in the water in Spain a year ago. The 30-pound jet pack, technically called a Jet Lev, can go up to 25 m.p.h. and up to 30 feet in the air. The pack is trailed closely by a boat that is connected to the pilot with a hose, which supplies water to power his levitation. The pack can go for four hours and up to 80 miles. To buy one personally would cost about $100,000.
“Both the water and the jet pack are pretty revolutionary,” Robertson said. “We thought using the jet pack would help build brand awareness. The device in and of itself is pretty revolutionary.”
The intentionally unnamed “Jet Pack Pilot” will be traveling the country promoting the product all summer long. He will also be at the Manhattan Beach Six Man event and may sponsor a team.
“The reaction has been absolutely incredible,” said Robertson. “A lot of people have never seen a jet pack… It’s just a great way to tell people what we’re doing.”
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