An airline pilot reported possibly seeing a man in a jetpack flying near Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday night.
“A Boeing 747 pilot reported seeing an object that might have resembled a jetpack 15 miles east of LAX at 5,000 feet altitude,” the Federal Aviation Administration told KABC
Air traffic controllers warned other pilots about the possible sighting “out of an abundance of caution,” the FAA said.
“The jet man is back,” a controller told one pilot in a recording, KCBS reported. “We did not see Iron Man,” the pilot responded. The FAA is investigating the incident.
The possible sighting hearkens back to a series of reported “jetpack man” sightings by pilots near Los Angeles International Airport in 2020.
But some experts have concluded those sightings may have actually involved a mannequin or dummy attached to a drone, Gizmodo reported.
The reported altitudes and durations of the various jetpack sightings don’t match up with the known capabilities of commercial jetpacks, experts say.
“A dummy may be a way more realistic explanation for the sightings than a real-life Iron Man,” the story concludes.
Kristi Johnson, FBI assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, also suggested a drone might be behind the sightings at a November briefing, KCBS previously reported. The FBI had been assisting with the investigations.
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