David Mayman, a former commercial pilot, flew at a height of 30m for four minutes wearing a turbine jet engine-powered JB-10 jetpack.
He hopes to make an electric version of the jetpack to be available in 2019 - at a price of nearly Â£200,000.
Mr Mayman said: "It feels absolutely amazing, awesome - it's freedom."
The project to develop a commercially viable electric jetpack is seeking to raise Â£300,000 through crowdfunding, with work on the project planned to start in April 2017.
The Australian former pilot took off in the jetpack from the Royal Victoria terminal of the Emirates Air Line cable car by the River Thames and made two short trips towards the ExCel centre.
"This is for the City boys who grew up in the 70s and 80s and dreamt of being a real-life Iron Man," said Lucy Sharp from Seedrs Investment, the company behind the fundraising for the electric jetpack.
"He's in talks with the US navy to give it a use beyond commercial flights.
"He's done over 400 test flights and they've all gone smoothly but it is jet fuel on his back so it can be dangerous."
The former pilot, who has worked on the project for more than a decade, has previously flown close to the Statue of Liberty in New York City and in Monaco.
Engineer Bennie Van De Goor said Mr Mayman's "passion for a long time has been to develop a small man-carrying vehicle that he can put in his car, take out and fly".

Mustakim Jaman, 23, of Hudson Road, Southsea, has been charged under section five of the Terrorism Act 2006.
He is the brother of Ifthekar Jaman, who was killed in Syria in December.
Mr Jaman is due at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday. Another brother, Tuhin Shahensha, 26, has also been charged with terrorism offences.
Mr Shahensha, also of Hudson Road, appeared in court on Friday accused of planning to fight in Syria. He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on 14 November.
The two men, of Hudson Road, Southsea, were arrested along with a number of other people in Hampshire and London on 14 October by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit (SECTU).
A 57-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman have been released on bail.
A 23-year-old woman from Farnborough and a 29-year-old woman from Greenwich, south-east London, have been released without charge.

Three people were stabbed when thousands gathered for a water fight in the park which descended into violence last week.
The 18-year-old man was arrested earlier and remains in custody.
Another man, 18, and a 17-year-old boy, have also been arrested in relation to disorder in McDonald's in Marble Arch.
Eleven people have now been arrested after the events on Tuesday 19 July.
The arrests came after police released a gallery of photos of suspects linked to the disorder that saw three people, including a police officer, stabbed.
A second officer suffered injuries from a flying bottle as officers tried to contain aggressive crowds that had gathered.
A pilot wearing a jetpack has taken to the skies above the River Thames in east London like "a real-life Iron Man".
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
The brother of a Portsmouth man killed while fighting for Islamic State (IS) in Syria has been charged with preparing terrorist acts.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a stabbing during a night of disorder in London's Hyde Park.