Atair's EXO-Wing, the World's Smallest Human-Piloted Jet

Atair Aerospace (Atair) was chosen by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art to display two of its real-world innovations alongside high-profile superhero collections from Hollywood and the fashion industry. The Met exhibit includes Atair's EXO-Wing^TM, the world's smallest human-piloted jet airplane.

Brooklyn, N.Y. May 14, 2008 -- Atair Aerospace (Atair) was chosen by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art to display two of its real-world innovations alongside high-profile superhero collections from Hollywood and the fashion industry. The Met exhibit includes Atair's EXO-Wing™, the world's smallest human-piloted jet airplane. Exoskeletons for increasing human capabilities were once the subject of fictional comic book writers; now it has become real technology to enable human flight. This futuristic aircraft is constructed from advanced aerospace composite materials. The twin micro-turbine-powered EXO-Wing^TM is so small and lightweight that a human wears it like a backpack.

The Met is also displaying Atair's AeroSuit^TM, an engineered bat-like flexible wing suit constructed with advanced composite textiles. This high-technology garment allows a skydiver to glide to a target miles away from the drop point. The arms and legs of this garment include inflating webbed panels that form the elements of a wing which dramatically improves the aerodynamics of a skydiver, providing a safe and extraordinary flight experience. Both innovations are made from a new generation of composite textiles pioneered by Atair which are engineered to perform under extreme conditions.

"I am a born and bred New Yorker and the Metropolitan Museum is one of the city's greatest assets," said Dan Preston, the CTO and Founder of Atair. "I am honored to be included in this exhibition and I am fascinated at seeing a parallel between fictional superheroes and the real technology we are developing." Although Atair has developed similar advanced products for its military clients, it declined to comment when asked for further details on its government projects.

The exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art features approximately 70 ensembles including movie costumes, avant-garde haute couture, and high performance sportswear to reveal how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for the ability to transform the human body. The exhibition will run from May 7 through September 1, 2008.

Headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., Atair Aerospace (Atair) is a high-technology prime defense contractor dedicated to modernizing military and government logistics by creatively solving complex aerospace and engineering problems that integrate the state-of-the-art in parachute designs, and guidance, navigation and control (GN&C;) systems. Atair's inventive products include the Onyx™ precision-guided parachute system, the Long Endurance Autonomous Powered Paraglider^TM (LEAPP^TM) UAV, the Circinus^TM GPS-Integrated Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), the Heli-Chute^TM, and 3DZ^TM Composite Parachute Technology. Atair's pioneering spirit and creative approach to research and development has resulted in contracts with the U.S. Army, DARPA, NASA, NRL, NSW, the Government of Israel, and many large defense contractors.

For more information, contact Rick Zaccari at or visit the Atair Aerospace website at www.atairaerospace.com.

Note: Atair's claim to having the "World's Smallest Human-Piloted Jet" may be questioned by the people at Birdman. Check out our article about the "First jet powered Birdman flight" ~ Ed