Inventors Who Maybe Should’ve Read The Manual Of Their Own Invention That Ended Up Killing Them

Michael Dacre

STR/AFP/Getty Images

Dacre was the founder of AVCEN Limited, a company which proposed a short to medium range air taxi that would be more efficient and cut down travel time between regions. It was to be called the Jetpod. It was going to be able to reach 550 km/h and it would only need about 125 meters to take off or land, which would allow for runways to be in the city.

It would fly quietly over major cities and not be noticeable to traffic. For example, a trip from Heathrow Airport to the middle of central London would take four minutes once in the sky. But in 2009, Dacre completed a prototype and tried to fly it. He tried to take off three times and was successful on the fourth until he stalled it, which led to him crashing and dying.