'Person in jetpack' spotted flying again near LA airport

The whole ATC system is based on the underlying idea that stuff isn’t supposed to be in certain places at a certain time. For example the system can operate without radar in zero visibility conditions because it can use a “one in one out” philosophy where a certain 3D block of the Sky only has one flying object in it. Random drones, jet packs or whatever turning up unannounced in busy airspace totally destroys that system (irrespective of other issues) hence why when something like this happens you see the FBI rocking up and treating this like they are.

Here [1] is the ATC conversation. She sent IDAHO30 (military aircraft) to go looking for them. IDAHO30 did not find the jetpack.<p>[1] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=jblAQXY8AKo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=jblAQXY8AKo</a>

I thought this was probably a man-in-a-jetpack shaped balloon last time it happened, now at 6000 feet it surely is. The Venn diagram of people capable of making&#x2F;flying one, and people wanting to do so round LAX, surely has a substantially bigger intersection for balloon than for actual jetpack.

This happened last month too didn&#x27;t it? You&#x27;d think airport security would have heightened in the period since, especially at LAX.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thedrive.com&#x2F;the-war-zone&#x2F;36096&#x2F;airline-pilots-landing-at-lax-report-a-guy-in-jetpack-flying-alongside-them-on" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thedrive.com&#x2F;the-war-zone&#x2F;36096&#x2F;airline-pilots-l...</a>

I find this jetpack story unlikely. I would imagine anyone with the means and knowledge to use a jet pack would know to respect the airspace near an airport (even if just for their own safety!).

I don&#x27;t know much about real live person sized jetpacks, aren&#x27;t they really loud and large and expensive? Wouldn&#x27;t this likely be seen&#x2F;filmed by others around LA and end up on social media if it was a real live person in a real jetpack?<p>I guess I&#x27;m thinking it&#x27;s more likely a drone or something?

I&#x27;m curious, doesn&#x27;t commercial planes have any equivalent for dash cams? I get that the jetpack man might not have been in direct flight path, but I do know that there are inflight cameras for entertainment purposes in some passenger flights for viewing outside the plane and cameras in the landing gears of newer Airbus planes.

Isn&#x27;t this an air force problem? An unidentified craft in US airspace... What&#x27;s the escalation point, between civilian authorities and military if&#x2F;when something is in the sky that shouldn&#x27;t be?

So the thing about LA is that there is a beach... and on that beach there are people with smartphones... and on those smartphones are cameras. What I am trying to say if that is a jetpack it is unlikely to have taken off from the city. Possibly from a boat, although flying jetpack from a boat sounds sketchy.<p>edit: I was wrong, LAX arrival corridor is inland and takeoff corridor is over the ocean. So this has to have been spotted over the land. See below comment by taneq.

Random thought: could it perhaps be a &quot;balloon&quot; or some sort of modded drone made to <i>look</i> like a dude with jetpack?<p>People have done stranger things for the lulz.

This reminds me of the weird incident where a guy attached some weather balloons to his chair and landed at LA airport: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lawnchair_Larry_flight" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lawnchair_Larry_flight</a>

Was it the Flying Frenchman Frankie Zapata? <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3UbOG0ERCwM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3UbOG0ERCwM</a>

Are there any photos or even video of the rocket man?

&gt;someone in a jetpack on Wednesday at 6,000ft (1,829m), seven miles (11km)<p>Is technology for such jetpack even possible already?!

70 years ago people saw weird things in the sky and thought they were aliens.<p>Now we have drones and jet packs, are people more likely to attribute weird atmospheric&#x2F;light patterns&#x2F;weather balloons as those?

i dont see real issue here. if they are afraid that landing plane might be hit by him - simply crash a cheap drone into that man, that would strongly discourage him from flying nearby because it hurts a lot

Is that Elon Musk working on his jetpack personal transporter? &lt;grin&gt;<p>More seriously, if you are so inclined to build your own, here are instructions: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;timwylie.com&#x2F;files&#x2F;jetpack&#x2F;building.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;timwylie.com&#x2F;files&#x2F;jetpack&#x2F;building.pdf</a><p>I tried but quickly decided that I wasn&#x27;t sufficiently motivated.

How do they make their escape? I&#x27;m presuming that they are hunted.

It was just some good old swamp gas.

Obligatory share: [0] An interesting story onboard an SR-71 Blackbird<p>[0](<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theaviationgeekclub.com&#x2F;sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-story-behind-famed-ground-speed-check&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theaviationgeekclub.com&#x2F;sr-71-blackbird-pilot-tells-...</a>)

My calves are burning!

Got to be Elon Musk. Makes too much sense

Anyone checked to see what Tony Stark is doing these days?

&gt; &quot;A jetpack is a device usually strapped to a person&#x27;s back, which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air&quot;<p>Shoddy reporting. I think the author just looked up &quot;jetpack&quot; on the internet without comprehending anything. This jetpack is powered but sets of air breathing jet engines, the kind traditionally used to power modern passenger aircraft.

This is called mass hysteria. Nice twist on drones though.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_mass_hysteria_cases" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_mass_hysteria_cases</a>

It should be noted that the technology to do this is quite old. The Williams X-Jet was operational about the time the first Intel x86 processor came off the assembly line. The Army evaluated the technology and decided not to use it at that time about 40 years ago. Here are the specs from Wikipedia:<p>Specifications (X-Jet) Data from[citation needed] General characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 3 ft (0.91 m) approx. Height: 4 ft 0 in (1.22 m) Empty weight: 401 lb (182 kg) Gross weight: 550 lb (249 kg) Powerplant: 1 × Williams F107 turbofan engine, 570 lbf (2.5 kN) thrust (modified) Performance Maximum speed: 52 kn (60 mph, 96 km&#x2F;h) Endurance: 30–45 minutes Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,000 m) Thrust&#x2F;weight: 1.11<p>More recent turbofan engines combined with modern computer-assisted controls could result in a considerable boost in capability, particularly in reliability by using multiple smaller turbofans.<p>Given the extreme irresponsibility Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook have shown in the last few days in censoring important voter information, let us hope someone at Homeland is keeping them from buying advanced turbofan engines: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nypost.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;10&#x2F;14&#x2F;big-tech-in-the-tank-for-defending-biden-family-and-democrats-devine&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nypost.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;10&#x2F;14&#x2F;big-tech-in-the-tank-for-defen...</a> <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nypost.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;10&#x2F;14&#x2F;email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nypost.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;10&#x2F;14&#x2F;email-reveals-how-hunter-biden...</a> <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nypost.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;10&#x2F;15&#x2F;kayleigh-mcenany-twitter-has-me-at-gunpoint-to-delete-biden-story&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nypost.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;10&#x2F;15&#x2F;kayleigh-mcenany-twitter-has-m...</a>