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Pioneering jetpack maker Martin Aircraft Company has appointed a chief executive as it prepares to raise up to $20 million to get into full production.
Former infrastructure company head Richard Lauder will take up the new role from January 1.
Lauder was an early investor in the Christchurch-based company and has been on its board since 2004. He was executive chairman of Australasian contracting company Excell Corporation, a subsidiary of Eric Watson's Cullen Investments before its sale in October.
Lauder, 45, said one of the key challenges now the technology had been proven was raising around $20 million to achieve positive cash flow.
At one extreme this could involve a sharemarket listing but more likely was seeking more money from private investors, he said.
"Realistically we're only looking at equity funding - debt markets are not looking particularly good at this stage."
Last week the company got a $968,430 boost from the Government's Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.
Lauder said interested groups in the United States had raised the possibility of moving there but that was not in the plan, partly because of a supply network it had set up in New Zealand already.
Martin Jetpack inventor and company founder Glenn Martin would remain at the core of the company, leading the development of the product. The company has said it is negotiating with more than 50 potential customers with interest mainly from the United States but also coming from countries ranging from Malaysia to Sweden.
The potential buyers were divided into two groups - those who wanted it for recreation and those who wanted it for work such as search and rescue and building inspection.
Although jetpacks had been around for decades those in use now had very limited flight time. The Martin jetpack - which is still in its developmental phase after a brief outing at an airshow in the United States this year - could fly for 30 minutes. The 113kg pack is designed to lift a pilot of up to 120kg vertically, and pitching it forwards slightly will allow it to move horizontally at nearly 100km/h. It is run by a 200hp water-cooled piston engine driving downward-
facing fans on either side of the pilot. The jet pack fits into the ultra-light category of aircraft and has US Federal Aviation Administration approval.
Lauder says he is not an aviation buff but has become a jetpack enthusiast.
