Two pilots were in for a shock on Sunday evening after seeing something they certainly had never seen before. It wasn’t a bird, it wasn’t another plane, or a UFO. It was a man attached to a jetpack apparently flying at around 3,000 feet in the air over Los Angeles.
The incident has now sparked a huge investigation by authorities, as such activity near a busy airport is seriously dangerous.
An American Airlines pilot entering Los Angeles International Airport at 6.30pm on Sunday phoned the air-traffic control to report that he was witnessing a rocket-man travelling at the same height as his aircraft.
Another pilot, this time flying for Southwest Airlines, also reported seeing the same man flying around on a jet-pack type contraption. The Federal Aviation Authority confirmed the sightings to NBC news. They said in a statement:
Two airline flight crews reported seeing what appeared to be someone in a jet pack as they were on their final approaches to LAX around 6:35 p.m. PDT Sunday. The FAA alerted local law enforcement to the reports, and is looking into these reports.
The FBI has also confirmed that it is also investigating.
Jetpacks most certainly exist, though to be flying at 3,000 feet they would need to be at the very top of the range and would likely cost many thousands of dollars. While the packs can be difficult to obtain, they are not difficult to get in the air and, at present, there is no licensing requirements for flying such devices. It is strongly advised that only trained professionals use the packs and that they are used in appropriate locations.
Anyone caught using a pack over an airport would likely be arrested for reckless endangerment, as any collision with an aircraft, or a flying individual being sucked into the aircraft engine, would be catastrophic.
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