The FBI is seeking the public’s help in finding a man who pilots saw flying with a jet pack near the Los Angeles International Airport last weekend, officials said Friday.
The sighting was first reported by an inbound American Airlines pilot around 6:35 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and an air traffic control recording. The incident remains under investigation by federal authorities.
“Tower, American 1997. We just passed a guy in a jet pack,” the American Airlines pilot reported to the control tower.
The tower operator can then be heard asking the pilot in a surprised tone whether the person in the jet pack is to the right or left of the plane.
“Off the left side, at maybe … 300 yards or so, about our altitude,” the pilot responded.
Moments later, a Southwest Airlines pilot contacted air traffic control and made a similar report.
“We just saw the guy pass by us in a jet pack,’’ the pilot can be heard saying in the recording.
After the jet pack was spotted a second time at an altitude of about 3,000 feet and 300 yards south of the airport, the tower contacted the pilot of a third flight in a JetBlue plane approaching LAX to alert him of the strange sighting.
“We heard and we are definitely looking,” the JetBlue pilot responded.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles division on a 24-hour line at 310-477-6565.
“The FBI takes seriously any event that threatens U.S. airspace and investigates all alleged violations,” the agency said in a statement.
