The FBI is looking into reports from pilots in California that someone was flying a jetpack thousands of feet in the air near the path of incoming aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport.
The incident occurred Sunday evening. The Federal Aviation Administration told the Washington Examiner that two flight crews reported what “appeared to be someone in a jetpack as they were on their final approaches to LAX around 6:35 p.m. PDT Sunday.”
“The FBI is aware of the reports by pilots on Sunday and is working to determine what may have occurred,” a spokesperson with the FBI told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
Fox 11 obtained audio where pilots can be heard reporting the sighting.
“Tower, American 1997, we just passed a guy in a jetpack,” one pilot told air traffic controllers.
“Off the left side at maybe 300 yards or so, about our altitude,” the pilot added when asked about where he saw the jetpack.
“We just saw the guy pass by us in the jetpack,” a second pilot reported.
“Person in a jetpack reported 300 yards south of the LA final at about 3,000 feet, 10-mile final,” an aircraft controller warned another plane in the area after receiving the reports.
“Only in L.A.,” one pilot quipped.
Steve Cowell, an aviation safety expert, told Fox 11 that he “absolutely” believes the pilot reports of the jetpack.
“There’s no question in my mind that that American pilot was very definitive about what he saw out his window,” he said. “Even the most technologically advanced jetpacks can only fly very briefly, so it’s possible this person may have gone up and then come down and then driven away.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the FAA’s Western-Pacific Region office for further information but did not immediately receive a response.
