Jetpack at 6000 Feet? The Experts REALLY Don't Think So...

Last August's hysteria over the reports of a jetpack and pilot flying at high altitudes near LAX is back. Another sighting was filed with the LAX tower as pilots from an inbound China Airlines flight reported another sighting at 6000 feet. 'A flying object, like a flight suit just passing us by at 6000' was the callout from the inbound Airbus. 

The target painted no known radar return, as before, and no one on the ground, in the vicinity of LAX, has reported anything like this landing...

• China Airlines 006: “We just saw a bright object at 6,000.”
• LAX Tower: “006 heavy can you say that one more time please?”
• China Airlines 006: “We saw a flying object like a [this part is hard to decipher, but it sounded like] flight suit jetpack at 6,000.”
• LAX Tower: “Was it a UAV or was it a jetpack?”
• China Airlines 006: “Like a jetpack. Too shiny. It’s too far.”
• LAX Tower: “006 heavy, roger, thank you… Emirates 215 heavy there was a jetpack reported about 13 miles ahead.”

Experts remain highly doubtful that what was seen was an actual jet pack, as the technology currently is not advanced enough to allow for the time aloft and altitudes required to perform such a stunt.

The two August reports were for a device seen flying at 3000 feet and at that time, Jetpack expert and designer David Mayman scoffed at the reports, suggesting that someone might be dressing up a drone like a jetpack to pull off some kind of grand spoof.

"The technology is just not there yet," he noted. "We can get about a solid 7 minutes duration out of the jetpacks we're flying now and while we hope for better in the future, there is no technology I know of that will get a turbine jetpack (of the type he flies) to 3000 feet and back, under power -- much less have the ability to loiter in the airspace long enough to be spotted by two separate aircraft."

But, really... what was it?

The possibilities are somewhat simple... an inflatable mannequin filled with helium, maybe, or even a drone configured to look like a jetpack and pilot. A number of RC models have already made flying fabrications of Snoopy and his doghouse, a witch flying a broomstick, and other variations (and yes, they are cool), and a few drones have been fitted with quad power system surrounding planforms mimicking everything from a dead cat to Superman. It's not as glamorous as a real live jetpack flaunting the regs in the middle of some of the world's busiest airspace, but it seems far more probable. For now.

In the meantime, Mayman and his troops are busy at work developing the next-generation of jetpacks as well as something that looks like a flying motorcycle (and that is still very much under development) with amazing potential for rescue and military operations of the future.

FMI: www.jetpackaviation.com