[stefanix]

Always was so fascinated by this until I got my PPL. Now I just fly and wonder why I was waiting for a mystical new machine. In retrospect it was just a weird mental block.

Just go fly a glider, UL or, VLA. Buckling up feels like putting on a wing backpack, I promise. They become an extension to your body after about 50h of flying. Most importantly these flying machines are available right now. Also they work really well. Mindbogglingly well. There are ULs that can fly 1000km on 15 gal. With about 100h of experience you can fly a glider 500km and more.

I hear you say but it's expensive. Glider flying can be quite affordable, like 2000 bucks/year affordable. It's more flying anyways especially when you live in a mountainous area. Many clubs also let you reduce the fees when you help maintain the gear.

I hear you say it takes a lot of training. Well, you are pretending to be a bird. Chances are you will welcome the training until you feel very comfortable in the air. I never thought the required training is tedious. It's really part of the fun.

In short, If you want to to fly it's more doable than you may think and tiny flying addons (aka jetpacks) are generally overrated.