Pilot Landing At LAX Reports 'Guy In a Jetpack' Flying Alongside Them

schwit1 shares a report from The Drive: As if 2020 couldn't get any weirder, airline pilots landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sunday, August 30th, reported seeing "a guy in a jetpack" flying about 300 yards off their wing while on final approach to the bustling airport. What makes the reports even stranger is that, like a scene out of The Rocketeer, the airliners were descending through 3,000 feet when jetpack guy showed up next to them. Fox 11 broke the story and has the air traffic control audio clips which you can listen to here.

There are a number of new jetpack-like designs that are remarkably capable, but all have very limited range and most have only very low-altitude flight envelopes. Yves "Jetman" Rossi's winged jetpack is definitely capable of such a feat, but his flights have always occurred under highly controlled and well-coordinated circumstances and in sanitized airspace. They are also very high-profile in nature and require a mothership to launch from, such as a helicopter, or at least a very high point to leap from. So, apparently, someone has a system that is similarly capable, but they are stupid enough to actually use it in incredibly congested airspace as part of an undeclared stunt...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.