Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
News

Guy In Jetpack Greets Incoming Planes At LAX, Prompts FBI Inquiry

FILE: An entertainer with a jet pack performs before the Formula One Grand Prix of France in 2018. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

Air travel during the pandemic is already a somewhat surreal experience. There's the odd passenger wearing a full gas mask, eerily empty airports, the absence of regular flight attendant rounds.

And now you can add the sight of a person floating outside an airplane window to the list of oddities.

The flying man wasn't a coronavirus-induced hallucination or a pilot's flashback to the 1984 Olympics. Remember that?

FILE: A performer wearing a space-age jetpack stuns the crowd during the opening day of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. (Tony Duffy/Getty Images)

This incident — which we don't have photos of — occurred at LAX on Sunday. The pilots of an American Airlines flight called into the tower to report passing a "guy in a jet pack" at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.

The air-traffic controller responded, "Only in L.A."

At least one other pilot aboard a Southwest Airlines flight also spotted the flying man, and an FAA spokesperson confirmed the sighting, too.

Sponsored message

The FBI is reportedly aware of the incident and looking into it.

Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today