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Improvised Jet Pack

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Jet Packs are considered to be pretty cool and a handy way to get around. However real jet packs aren't made for public use yet and takes lots of training to be able to use one correctly. But that doesn't stop people from finding a way around this. They are able to use certain objects like shaken-up carbonated drinks, leaf blowers, or air tanks to mimic their very own crude version of a jet pack, even if only for a few seconds.

Super-Trope of Not Quite Flight. May also be created from MacGyvering and/or Bamboo Technology. Compare Improvised Microgravity Maneuvering and Gas-Cylinder Rocket. See also Recoil Boost. Sometimes the Soda Can Shakeup can be used as fuel.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Black Lagoon: Revy kills Claude "Torch" Weaver by shooting him, with the bullet passing through his body and igniting the fuel tank for the flamethrower he was wearing and launching him into the air before exploding.

    Comic Books 

    Film — Animated 
  • Chicken Little: The titular character is known to use soda bottles to fly up to high places like windows or the bell tower.
  • An accidental case happens in Incredibles 2. Helen is alone with the Screenslaver on a jet. She tries to stop the villain by shooting a Flare Gun at him. The bullet hits the Screenslaver's oxygen-tank backpack causing them to rupture and propelling the villain out of the jet.
  • Kung Fu Panda: Po straps several fireworks to a chair to try and fly over the walls of the Jade Palace. It doesn't work... until about ten seconds later, that is.
  • WALL•E: When he is ejected in the Axiom escape pod, WALL•E uses a foam-type fire extinguisher as a rocket pack to escape back to the ship.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Frasier: A later-season episode features Marty Crane working as a security guard. One long night shift results in, among other things, his using a fire extinguisher to propel him (and his office chair) across the lobby.

    Newspaper Comics 
  • Mafalda uses seltzer water bottles as jetpacks in one arc.

    Video Games 
  • Duke Nukem II: The flamethrower weapon can be used to propel Duke to the air if fired downward.
  • Henry Stickmin Series: In Infiltrating the Airship, one of the escape routes uses a tank of propane gas as one of the escape methods.
  • Jetpack Joyride has a lot of custom jetpacks, the most iconic being the starting one: a pack made of Gatling Good. Even better fitting examples are the bubble gun jetpack, the snow machine jetpack, and especially the DIY jetpack (it's just a balloon strapped to Barry's back).
  • In Madagascar: Penguin Escape, Private eventually receives a bottle opener from Kowalski which allows you to use soda bottles to fly up to high places.
  • South Park: Phone Destroyer: Kyle's Sci-Fi persona Bounty Hunter Kyle utilizes a leaf blower as a jet pack.

    Western Animation 
  • Angry Birds Stella: The Jetpack Pig's jet pack is made from a soda can. Despite the lack of flammable fuels, it still explodes upon crashing.
  • Border Town: Ernesto and his work crew can use their leaf blowers as jet packs. Bud tries to do this and fails hilariously.
  • Captain Flamingo: A non-human variation in "New Bird on the Block" involves Milo duct-taping two big bottles of fizzy root beer to his model rocket to make it fly after its thrusters fail, with rather messy results.
  • Chop Chop Ninja Challenge:
    • In the short "Ring the Bell", one of Tetsuo's attempts involves strapping a bunch of shaken-up soda bottles to his back and flying over to ring the bell, only for the bat guard to distract him long enough for all the soda to run out and cause Tetsuo to fall to the ground.
    • Unintentional examples happen in both "Hang The Painting", when one of Iro's attempts ends in him being blasted into the sky from holding onto an accidentally lit firework, and "Catch The Fish", when one of Tetsuo's attempts end in the same way but with a torpedo shot from a submarine.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy: In "In Like Ed", Ed tries to infiltrate Jimmy's birthday party (which they think is a spy meeting) using a jetpack made from a fire extinguisher. It backfires and just fills Ed's pants to the brim with foam.
  • The Fairly OddParents!: In "It's a Wishful Life", Timmy uses a tank of laughing gas to prevent himself from falling into a dimensional rift.
  • Hey Arnold!: Curly does this with a fire extinguisher in "Principal Simmons" as the students wreak havoc on the school.
  • Regular Show: In "Country Club", Muscle Man shoots a club worker's oxygen tank with a tennis ball pitcher, causing them to fly upwards to stall the toilet converting machine.
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "Lemon of Troy", Bart tries to use spray paint cans as a makeshift jet pack. It's not too successful...
    • In "Midnight Towboy", Homer rushes to the Kwik-E-Mart to buy milk for Maggie, only for Apu to tell him that the bullies bought it all to make jet pack fuel out of milk, Mentos, and lottery ticket scrapings. Homer asks if it actually works, with Jimbo, who is outside the store floating about a foot off the ground with milk bottles strapped to his back, replying that it only kinda works.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • In "Squidville", Squidward does this with a reef blower when cornered by an angry mob chasing him for causing chaos all over Tentacle Acres.
    • In "Bubble Troubles", SpongeBob tries to get to the surface to get air for an air-depleted Sandy. How does he get up there? With an oxygen tank as a makeshift jet pack.
  • Total Drama: In the Revenge of the Island episode "Ice Ice Baby", B puts a toxic waste barrel and other explosive objects under a sofa and detonates it so he and his teammates can fly up a cliff instead of climbing.
  • Wile E Coyote And The Roadrunner: In the 1966 cartoon "Clippety Clobbered", one of the gadgets Wile E. makes with his Acme Chemistry Set is a spray can that is basically a handheld jetpack. It doesn't work any better than any of his other plans.


 
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Captain Flamingo

A non-human variation of this involves Milo duct taping two big bottles of fizzy root beer to his model rocket to make it fly after it's thrusters fail, with rather messy results.

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