“Man with a jetpack” that has LAX in a tizzy could be a mannequin.
What looked like a man flying a jetpack in LAX airspace and startled several commercial pilots last year could actually be a mannequin hanging from a drone.
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The details come from the website The Black Vault, which contacted the Federal Aviation Administration after the first sighting in August.
The Black Vault said it made use of the FOIA law (which gives U.S. citizens the right of access to government information) and received some documents showing correspondence between FAA and air traffic officials following the event in question, Gizmodo reviewed.
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One part of the document highlights that one of the pilots involved in the sighting had reported to the FBI that the “jetpack man” looked identical to a mannequin drone he had seen in a YouTube video.
The video referred to by the pilot was recorded in the vicinity of a German airfield and shows a camouflage-clad mannequin being held by a powerful twin-engine drone. While somewhat disappointing as a solution to the mystery, it is a more plausible explanation for what the pilots saw than a man with a jetpack (but equally dangerous to air safety).
Los Angeles airspace is some of the busiest in the United States, so it’s hard to believe that a person (or company) with the resources to own a jetpack would decide to test it just a few feet from the airport’s landing path. Not to mention the limitations of a jetpack that has reached a kilometer altitude: it would only last a couple of maneuvers before running out of fuel.
By Matías S. Zavia
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