Martin Aircraft Company

The Challenge

Martin Aircraft has created the world’s first practical jetpack, which was selected as one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2010. The New Zealand company will begin making and selling jetpacks for a mass market at a price comparable to a high-end motorcycle or car. To accelerate development, the jetpack maker decided to move from its AutoCAD® 2D tools to a 3D design platform in 2008.

The Solution

Martin Aircraft selected SolidWorks® solutions to finalize development of the Martin Jetpack, implementing SolidWorks Professional and SolidWorks Premium design software, and the SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks Flow Simulation analysis applications. The company chose SolidWorks software because it provided the necessary design, simulation, and visualization capabilities and was already familiar to newly hired engineers and key partners. By implementing SolidWorks solutions, Martin Aircraft cut mold development from three weeks to a day, eliminated the need for prototype molds, accelerated jetpack development, and was named one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2010.