Pilot's Report Near LAX Revives 'Jetpack Man' Mystery

Air traffic chatter over Los Angeles briefly veered into the bizarre again on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reports. As a military Gulfstream descended toward LAX around 2:40pm, its pilot reported "a potential skydiver" in a wingsuit passing over the jet at roughly 4,000 feet, according to recorded radio traffic.

The air traffic controller's incredulous "Are you serious?" echoed a mystery that first gripped officials in 2020, when multiple pilots reported a person flying near LAX in what became known as the "jetpack man" sightings. The FBI looked into at least three such reports, with experts later suggesting a drone—possibly carrying a mannequin—was a more plausible explanation than an actual airborne daredevil. The FAA did not immediately comment on Sunday's report, and it's not clear whether the incident is connected to those earlier cases. An American Airlines pilot in the landing queue responded, "We're looking for him," but so far, nobody has said what, if anything, they saw. A helicopter was also deployed to search and turned up nothing, the New York Post reports.