Los Angeles Times

Another jet pack wearer at LAX

Second such sighting in six weeks prompts another investigat­ion by federal officials.

- By Richard Winton

The second sighting of an airborne human in the airport f light path in six weeks is under FAA investigat­ion.

Los Angeles Internatio­nal Airport officials are investigat­ing reports of someone wearing a jet pack in the f light path, the second such report in a little over a month.

An air traffic controller overseeing airline approaches warned a commercial pilot who was set up to land that an individual wearing a jet pack had been reported f lying at about 6,500 feet.

A China Airlines crew member reported seeing what appeared to be someone in a jet pack roughly seven miles northwest of the airport about 1: 45 p. m. Wednesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administra­tion.

The FAA alerted local law enforcemen­t and is investigat­ing the report.

The FBI is also investigat­ing the sighting, according to sources familiar with the probe.

In addition, federal officials are investigat­ing an earlier incident in which two commercial pilots said they saw a man in a jet pack f lying around the eastern approach to LAX six weeks ago.

In the Aug. 29 incident, the control tower at LAX received reports about the jet pack around 6: 45 p. m.

“Tower, American 1997. We just passed a guy in a jet pack,” an American Airlines pilot stated in a call to the control tower.

“American 1997, OK, thank you. Were they off to your left or right side?” the tower operator asked.

“Off the left side, maybe 300 yards or so, about our altitude,” the pilot responded.

“We just saw the guy pass us by in the jet pack,” a pilot from Jet Blue Airways then told the tower, which warned another pilot about the sighting.

“Only in L. A.,” the air traffic controller said at one point.

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