Jet pack sighting at 3,000 feet over Los Angeles prompts investigation

Commercial pilots are accustomed to sharing the sky with birds or, more recently, drones, but on Sunday two pilots reported a novel sighting at 3,000 feet approaching LAX: a man flying a jet pack. “Tower, American 1997 — we just passed a guy in a jet pack,” the pilot of American Airlines Flight 1997 from Philadelphia told air traffic control, about 6:35 p.m. Sunday. The exchange was captured and posted by LiveATC.net, which shares live and archived recordings of air-traffic-control radio transmissions. “Were they off to your left side or right side?” the controller asked. The pilot said the person was 300 yards to the plane’s left, and about 30 seconds later, another pilot said he had also seen the man pass by. The controller, after asking the pilot of JetBlue Flight 23 to keep a lookout, added, “Only in L.A.” Now both the FBI and the FAA are investigating. American Airlines declined to identify the pilot, referring inquiries to the FAA. A JetBlue official would not comment. Seth Young, a pilot and a professor of aviation at Ohio State University, said it was “very dangerous" to fly so close to an airplane, especially in the busy airspace near Los Angeles International Airport. “The risk is obviously having a collision with that airplane or getting a drone, or the person getting ingested into an engine,” Young said. “We have these issues with birds flying within congested airspace, as well.”<br/>