‘Only in LA’: Pilots report person flying with jetpack at 6,000ft in second sighting in six weeks

An air traffic controller also saw the jetpack, issuing a warning to a commercial pilot about to land

Credit: AFP

For the second time in just over a month, crew members on board a plane bound for Los Angeles International Airport spotted a jetpack wearing individual soaring through the sky alongside them. 

The latest interaction occurred at 6,500 feet — thought to be the highest seen by pilots yet — when a China airlines crew member glimpsed the person around seven miles northwest of LAX. 

An air traffic controller also saw the jetpack, issuing a warning to a commercial pilot about to land at the airport at 1.45pm on Wednesday. 

The Federal Aviation Administration, FBI and LAX officials are now investigating the report. 

Just six weeks ago another suspected jetpack wearer crossed into the airport’s flight path, which is one of the busiest in the United States. 

On August 29, an American Airlines pilot and another from JetBlue told air traffic control that they had seen something in their route at around 6.45pm. 

“Tower, American 1997. We just passed a guy in a jet pack,” the American Airlines pilot said, adding that the figure was at the same altitude as the plane as it approached the runway. 

Shortly after the JetBlue pilot said: “’We just saw the guy pass us by in the jet pack.”

The control tower then warned other aircraft in the vicinity, before adding: “Only in LA.”

Both planes were at an altitude of around 3,000 feet and at one point the jetpack was just 30 metres away.

"The FBI is in contact with the FAA and is investigating multiple reports of what, according to witnesses, appeared to be an individual in a jetpack near LAX, including one today reported by a China Airlines crew," FBI Los Angeles Field Office spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told CNN. 

Such sightings at high altitudes are unusual given that the majority of jetpacks cannot fly for longer than a few minutes and or reach extreme heights. 

Very few people attempt to fly as high as the altitude witnessed in the second incident. 

In February 2020, Vince Reffet flew to nearly 6,000 feet during a three-minute flight in Dubai, but was aided with a parachute for his descent.