SoloTrek takes flight

Flight Journal, Oct 2002 by Moshier, Michael

Many people raised on the 20th century's grandiose science-fiction visions of the future wonder what happened to the flying cars that we were supposed to have by now? Though we may still be stuck in traffic jams in the 21st century, a group of Silicon Valley engineers recently took a major step forward-or, rather, upward-toward realizing the long-held dream of personal flight. On December 18, 2001, Michael Moshier, CEO of Millennium Jet, Inc., piloted his tethered SoloTrek XFV (Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle) at the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.

The tethered hovering test flights are the last major step before the SoloTrek is flown unfettered later this year. Once the craft has been perfected, Moshier envisions its use in jobs such as search and rescue, traffic reporting and police/security work. The military is also keenly interested: the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded a $5 million development grant to Millennium Jet. Engineers from the Ames Research Center-NASA's center for rotorcraft and VTOL research-are on board for consultation.

Though we might not see one in every garage, the chances are good that the SoloTrek XFV will eventually be as common as the traffic helicopters that blithely hum above the freeway as we stew in the inevitable traffic snarls. -Michael Moshier