Viewpoint graduate establishes new world’s record by flying a jetpack from the mainland to Catalina Island





 

 

After more than 10 years in the banking industry, Dean O’Malley, 36, quit his job to join a startup company in pursuit of new adventures.

His gamble is paying off.

On Sept. 29, the Viewpoint School graduate set a world record when he scooted through the air between 5 and 20 feet above the Pacific on a 26-mile journey from Newport Beach to Avalon on Catalina Island using a water-propelled jetpack.

Although he spent months practicing for the exploit, O’Malley said the journey was much longer and more strenuous than he’d anticipated. Instead of two hours and one tank of gas, it took more than four hours and 2½ tanks of gasoline to reach Avalon.

“I was constantly on alert,” he said. “My hands went numb. My shoulders were burning because I had to keep adjusting forward and watch out for white caps. I was going against the wind and waves.”

As with most marathons, it was easy at first with his adrenaline running. But the last six miles were harder due to fatigue.

O’Malley is president of Jetlev Southwest, a Newport Beach firm that sells waterpropelled jetpacks and offers flight experience packages for thrill seekers who want to try the flying machines.

He said the point of the sustained jetpack flight was to establish a new benchmark and attract potential buyers.

“It was just determination to do something that I knew could be done but no one had done it.

O’Malley’s flight coincided with the 100th anniversary celebration of aviator Glenn Martin’s pioneering flight from Newport to Catalina. At the time it was the longest sustained flight over water.

The jetpack flight was a first and will be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records, said O’Malley’s mother, CJ Khougaz, who followed O’Malley on a company yacht along with a television crew from ABC’s “Nightline.”

“Dean is adventurous and he takes chances,” Khougaz said.

The youngest of three boys, O’Malley was always quiet and deliberate about everything he did, his mother said.

His independent spirit surfaced early. At 7, O’Malley attended a five-week camp in Texas, and at 11 he took his first trip to Europe with friends.

“By the time Dean was 18 he had been in Europe five times,” Khougaz said.

O’Malley grew up in Calabasas and attended Viewpoint from kindergarten through 12th grade. Among other things, he was a member of the football team and homecoming king, and he spent time in Japan and France as an exchange student.

After earning a degree in management sciences at UC San Diego in 1998, O’Malley joined Andersen Consulting, a management consulting firm which assigned him to a job for Washington Mutual in Newport Beach. The bank hired O’Malley to design computer programs, and he stayed on when JPMorgan Chase took over in 2008.

By age 32, he was vice president of applications management, overseeing 55 people in Florida and India.

“Dean has always been very financially responsible. He owns commercial property and bought his first home at age 27,” Khougaz said.

So when he quit his job last fall to work for Jetlev Southwest, the move startled his family because “nobody ever heard of the company and product,” she said. “It’s kind of like somebody quitting their job to become a drummer.”

O’Malley said he’d needed a career change.

“The IT job trade just wasn’t the right trade for me. When I took a step back after over 10 years in that line of work, I realized I was out of place. I wasn’t passionate about it despite the fact that I was successful. I was miserable,” he said.

When college friend Katie Morris introduced him to the new jetpack company owned by her father, O’Malley jumped at the chance to try something new.

“ If you come to me with something fun and different, I see that as a rush,” he said.

After two weeks on the job, O’Malley became president of the startup fi rm.

“ I was the first full- time employee last September. Now we have 12 people on staff, and we’ve gone from flying 40 customers per month last year to over 400 in August,” he said.

The $99,500 Jetlev R200 was conceived in 2000 by Raymond Li. The majority of components are custom-made.

About 60 of the devices are in use around the world, said O’Malley, who hopes to market the new jetpack to resort operators.

“(The recent flight to Catalina) is just going to increase the awareness, so hopefully we’ll get more sales calls,” he said.

While there are other jetpacks on the market, the waterbased model is safer, easier to use and more accessible to the average consumer, O’Malley said.

“ Most everyone who sees this is amazed by it, and they want to come out and try it,” he said.

The starting cost for a 20-minute flight experience is $159. Most first-time pilots are flying within the first 5 to 10 minutes, O’Malley said.


EXTREME ADVENTURE—Dean O’Malleyflies from Newport Beach to Avalon on Catalina Island using a waterpropelled jetpack.

EXTREME ADVENTURE—Dean O’Malleyflies from Newport Beach to Avalon on Catalina Island using a waterpropelled jetpack.

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