Mystery Jetpack Man Passes Jetliners At 3,000 Feet Near LAX

LOS ANGELES, CA — There is very little that happens in Los Angeles traffic that could surprise anyone these days, but a man with a jetpack managed to do just that when he was spotted by pilots in the air traffic 3,000 feet above Los Angeles International Airport.

The mystery jetpacker was seen by two commercial jetliner pilots Sunday night as they headed in for a landing in at LAX. The bewildering sight has triggered FBI and Federal Aviation Administration investigations. It also created some confusion among local law enforcement agencies about just who plays traffic cop when it comes to speeding jetpackers.

It all started just after 6:30 p.m. when a pilot of American Airlines flight 1997 radioed the LAX tower to make the unusual report.

"Tower, American 1997. We just passed a guy in a jetpack," the pilot said on the radio transmission, which was first obtained by Fox11.

An air traffic controller — noticeably taken aback by the report — responded, "American 1997, OK, thank you for the update. Left side or right side?"

"Off the left side," the pilot responded, "at maybe, uh, 300 yards or so, at our altitude."

At least one other pilot, aboard a Southwest Airlines flight, also spotted the unusual aviator.

"Tower, we just saw the guy pass by us," the pilot reported.

The LAX tower alerted an inbound JetBlue pilot to beware of "a person with a jetpack reported 300 yards south of the L.A. final at about 3,000 feet."

The pilot responded, "We heard and are definitely looking."

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

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor confirmed the jetpack reports.

"Two airline flight crews reported seeing what appeared to be someone in a jet pack as they were on their final approach to LAX around 6:35 p.m. Sunday," Gregor said in an email to Patch. "The FAA alerted local law enforcement to the reports and is looking into these reports."

Local law enforcement agencies weren't sure who had jurisdiction over the jetpacker. A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman referred Patch to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which referred Patch to the Los Angeles Airport Police, which referred Patch back to the LAPD.

In the end, it was the FBI that took on the investigation.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told City News Service, "We are aware of these (jetpack) reports, and we are looking into them to determine what happened."

Steve Cowell, a retired pilot and aviation safety expert, told Fox11 he "absolutely" believes the American Airline pilot's report.

"There's no question in my mind that American pilot was very definitive about what he saw out his window," Cowell told the station.

Cowell said the person may have just been pulling off a prank.

"Even the most technologically advanced jetpacks, you know, can only fly very briefly, so it's possible this person may have gone up, and then come down and then driven away," Cowell told Fox11.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.