‘Iron Man’ jet suit inventor flies to Isle of Wight to hand-deliver letter

British inventor Richard Browning has hand-delivered a letter to the Isle of Wight while wearing a jet-engine suit, marking him out as one of the world’s fastest postmen.

Mr Browning is the founder of “aeronautical innovation” company Gravity Industries, which claimed to have patented the world’s first official jet suit design earlier this year.

So he’s a rocketman?

Pretty much. The suit, which weighs around 25kg, consists of five micro gas turbines capable of producing more than 1,000bhp (brake horsepower) collectively, which are strapped to the wearer’s hands, forearms and rear to propel them upwards and into the air.

The journey across the Solent marked the furthest flight Mr Browning has ever undertaken in the get up. He reached speeds of up to 60mph, allowing him to cross the 1.3km expanse of water in just 75 seconds and safely touch down.

Is this a world first, then?

Mr Browning has previous when it comes to breaking records. In 2017 his suit set a world speed record as the fastest jet suit, which at the time was 32.02mph. The team has since almost doubled the speed the suit can reach, demonstrating how quickly the technology is evolving.

He’s not, however, the first person to attempt letter delivery to the Isle of Wight by such unconventional means. German entrepreneur Gerhard Zucker attempted to deliver mail by rocket to the island in 1934, but his experiment failed when the rocket veered off course thanks to an errant gust of wind and crashed into the a bog on the mainland. He was later arrested and deported for being a “danger to the national security of the country”.

Blimey. I’m guessing the same fate won’t await Mr Browning?

It’s highly unlikely. Mr Browning has previously outlined his ambitious for jet-suits to be worn by search and rescue teams or the military to aid them in missions, so we could see a whole lot more of him and his inventions in the future. However, given we don’t know if the letter actually made it to its intended recipient or not, it’s unlikely he’ll be joining the Royal Mail any time soon.