Airport officials sight second person wearing a jetpack ­– this time at 6,500 feet

A silhouette of a man flying with a rocket jet pack on his back. The sun is setting behind him.

American federal officials are looking into the sighting of a person wearing a jetpack, the second to occur in just over a month.

According to the Los Angeles Times, an air traffic controller overseeing airline approaches at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) warned a commercial pilot who was preparing to land that a person wearing a jetpack had been seen flying at around 6,500 feet.

The outlet reported a China Airlines crew member had seen what appeared to be someone in a jet pack roughly seven miles (11.2 kilometres) northwest of the airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency alerted local law enforcement and is reportedly investigating the report.

In addition, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation told The New York Times the agency “is investigating multiple reports of what, according to witnesses, appeared to be an individual in a jetpack near LAX”.

The incident is thought to be the second jetpack sighting near LAX in just over a month, after commercial pilots from two different flights reported catching sight of a man flying a jetpack at 3,000 feet.

American Airlines flight 1997 was approaching LAX from Philadelphia when its pilot told air traffic control that they had just passed a “guy in a jet pack”.

“Were they off to your left side or right side?” the controlled asked.

The pilot said the person was about 275 meters to the planes left.

About 30 seconds after the American Airlines pilot reported the siting, a JetBlue pilot reported seeing the man.

“Only in LA,” the flight controller said.

Federal officials said last month that they were investigating the earlier jetpack sighting.


Featured image source: iStock/KevinHyde

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