https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/airline-pilots-spot-guy-in-a-jetpack-flying-3-000-feet-in-the-air/ar-BB18A6kT?li=BBnbklEA man in a jetpack—a flying device worn on the back which propels you into the air—was reportedly spotted flying 3,000 feet in the air near a plane that was approaching Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sunday evening.The pilot for American Airlines flight 1997 (AA1997) told air traffic control tower crew: "Tower, American 1997, we just passed a guy in a jetpack...off the left side [of the plane], maybe 300 yards or so, about our altitude," FOX 11 Los Angeles.Another pilot, believed to be operating a SkyWest Airlines flight, confirmed to tower crew: "We just saw the guy passing by us in the jetpack."
The tower crew also warned a JetBlue pilot about the incident: "JetBlue 23, use caution, person in a jetpack reported 300 yards south of the L.A. final at about 3,000 feet 10 mile final."
The pilot operating the JetBlue flight 23 replied: "We heard and we are definitely looking."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the "unverified report" of the man in a jetpack. The FAA was said to have sent the report to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for further investigation. But the LAPD has not received a report from the FAA, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported.Jetpacks are typically known as low-flying devices that fly not too far above the ground and remain in the air briefly.
Aviation expert and retired airline pilot Steve Cowell told FOX 11 Los Angeles: "There's no question in my mind that that American pilot was very definitive about what he saw out his window.
"Even the most technologically advanced jetpacks can only fly very briefly. So it's possible that this person may have gone up and may have come down and then driven away.
A retired pilot and the chief executive officer of Aero Consulting Experts, Ross Aimer, told FOX 11 Los Angeles: "Whoever was operating—if it is a jetpack—this was a crazy place to be.
"The danger is that, God forbid, if they would have hit this object, whatever it was, it could get sucked into the engine...that could cause considerable damage to the aircraft passengers, not considering the person that was in the jetpack," he added.
Earlier this year in February, a man in a jetpack from the company Jetman Dubai reached an altitude of nearly 6,000 feet, reportedly becoming the first to "achieve 100 per cent autonomous human flight: a take-off from the ground, transitioning into a high-altitude flight," the company said.
The jetpack, which took off from the runway of Skydive Dubai, was reported to have flown up to 1,800 meters (5,905.5 feet), according to the company.
"This milestone proved that Jetmen can now fly directly upwards from a standing start without the need for an elevated platform.
"This is the first time that a Jetman pilot has combined hovering safely at a low altitude and flying aerobatics at a high altitude in the same flight," the company said.
