---
title: "Boeing is Sponsoring a $2 Million Competition to Bring Us Real Jet Packs"
description: "Boeing is sponsoring a major two-year competition to award developers of jet packs. The three-phase competition will give a grand prize of $1 million to the best design and execution of a personal VTOL device."
date: "2017-10-02"
modified: "2017-10-02"
authors:
  - name: "Patrick Caughill"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/patrickcaughill"
url: "https://futurism.com/boeing-is-sponsoring-a-2-million-competition-to-bring-us-real-jet-packs"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Boeing"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "boeing"
  - "jetpacks"
  - "vtol"
---

# Boeing is Sponsoring a $2 Million Competition to Bring Us Real Jet Packs

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="http://www.jetpackaviation.com/" target="\_blank"\>Jetpack Aviation\</a\>\</em\>*

## Real-Life Rocketeers

A Boeing sponsored contest is looking to reward the developers of a functional jet-pack with $2 million. The new contest was announced at the [SAE 2017 AeroTech Congress and Exhibition](<http://www.sae.org/events/atc/>) in Fort Worth, Texas. It was conceived by entrepreneur Gwen Lighter, chief executive of the company GoFly, [who told ](<https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/26/16362868/boeing-go-fly-prize-jetpack-competition>)*[The Verge](<https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/26/16362868/boeing-go-fly-prize-jetpack-competition>),* “There is no dream that is more universally shared than that of soaring through the skies. It unites us all.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY0RWL9k1T8

The contest will be held in three phases, with the first phase awarding ten semi-finalists $20,000 prizes each based on their written technical specifications. The second phase will then give four finalists $50,000 prizes based on revised specs and their prototype. Finally, a single grand prize-winning team will take home a $1 million prize based on the results of a Final Fly-Off competition, which will be judged by experts from Boeing and other aerospace organizations. [According to the Washington Post](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/contest-seeks-to-make-the-jetsons-dreams-a-reality/2017/09/26/4525bc9e-a240-11e7-8cfe-d5b912fabc99_story.html?utm_term=.1fcbe1688681>), the winning jet pack must light enough to be lifted by hand or on a hand truck, carry a 200-pound person (or dummy) for at least 20 miles without refueling, be easy-to use, and be safe, with no pilot withstanding forces more than 5 g.

## Next Generation

The competition hopes to attract a younger crowd, and to pull minds toward the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) field as opposed to other areas in the tech sector. Mike Hirschberg, executive director of the [American Helicopter Society](<https://vtol.org/>), told *The Verge,* "Really it’s about inspiring the next generation of aerospace engineers, scientists, and technicians so they don’t all go to Google."

[Along with flying cars](<https://futurism.com/flying-cars-could-hit-the-skies-as-soon-as-2018>), personal jetpacks have moved from the realm of science fiction to reality with the rapid development of new technology: improved batteries, lightweight drones, and easier production methods like 3D printing. Just this past March, the first [civilian pilots took flight](<https://futurism.com/for-the-first-time-a-civilian-pilot-flew-a-jetpack>) in a jetpack developed by Jetpack Aviation.

Lighter said, “At the end of our two-year competition, we hope we have new technology and frankly a whole new industry, where we have a mini Ford and a mini GM and a mini Chrysler at the start of the automotive industry, except now we have those mini companies at the start of a personal flying device industry.”

The future of transportation is teeming with ideas, reliant on the execution of some (formerly) sci-fi level technologies. We may be closer to living *[The Jetsons](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTq6Tofmo7E>)* than ever before.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-caughill-74178a61>)