The latest in a series of jetpack reports is the first in months. Video broadcast Friday June 24, 2022 on the NBC4 News at 11 p.m.
An airline pilot reported seeing something that resembled a person with a jetpack Thursday in that latest in a series of mysterious and similar sightings in the general vicinity of Los Angeles International Airport.
The pilot reported the unidentified object Thursday afternoon about 15 miles east of LAX.
"An airline pilot reported seeing an object that might have resembled a jetpack 15 miles east of Los Angeles International Airport around 2:45 p.m. today," the FAA said in a statement Thursday. "The FAA has worked closely with the FBI to investigate every reported jetpack sighting. So far, none of these sightings have been verified. One working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons."
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Similar sighting of something that looked like a person flying with a jetpack have been reported by airline pilots. The mystery object might be something far less technologically advanced, authorities have told NBCLA.
"One working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons," the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Federal Aviation Administration said in statements last year after NBCLA obtained police video and photos that appear to show a human-shaped inflatable toy floating thousands of feet above Beverly Hills.
A bizarre sight, but not JetPack Man.
The crew aboard an LAPD helicopter captured the images last year about two weeks after the second reported sighting a few miles south over the Culver City or Century City areas. The inflatable appeared to be a life-sized 'Jack Skellington,' the main character in Tim Burton's 1993 movie "A Nightmare Before Christmas."
While officials told NBC Los Angeles that the police encounter could have been a single balloon that broke loose from a Halloween display and drifted into the sky, it also emboldened one theory shared among federal authorities investigating the sightings -- that pilots might have seen human-shaped inflatables or other balloons that had drifted into the landing approach routes into LAX.
There have been at least three sightings reported by pilots lining up to land at Los Angeles International Airport.
None of the sightings have been verified.
