'Person In Jetpack' Spotted Flying Again Near LA Airport (bbc.com) 111
There are reports of an unidentified person flying in a jetpack near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) -- the second such incident in two months. The BBC reports: A China Airlines crew said it saw what appeared to be someone in a jetpack on Wednesday at 6,000ft (1,829m), seven miles (11km) north-west of LAX, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The FBI is investigating the incident, as well as a similar one in September. It is not clear if either incident posed any danger to aircraft.
The China Airlines flight reported what it believed to be a person flying in a jetpack at 13:45 local time (20:45 GMT) on Wednesday, the FAA said. It said it then alerted enforcement agencies, who are now investigating the incident. "The FBI is in contact with the FAA and is investigating multiple reports of what, according to witnesses, appeared to be an individual in a jetpack near LAX," FBI Los Angeles Field Office spokeswoman Laura Eimiller was quoted as saying by US media. The airport authorities have so far made no public comment on the issue.
The China Airlines flight reported what it believed to be a person flying in a jetpack at 13:45 local time (20:45 GMT) on Wednesday, the FAA said. It said it then alerted enforcement agencies, who are now investigating the incident. "The FBI is in contact with the FAA and is investigating multiple reports of what, according to witnesses, appeared to be an individual in a jetpack near LAX," FBI Los Angeles Field Office spokeswoman Laura Eimiller was quoted as saying by US media. The airport authorities have so far made no public comment on the issue.
You see, we called the Mandalorian (Score:5, Funny)
because of all the crazy shit going down in 2020
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So the FBI has time to investigate flying men but not investigate incriminating emails of a corrupt politician?
The FBI has been compromised.
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Luke, the projection is strong with this one.
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They are mostly Russians or those who have already stated they would rather be Russians than democrats which in-turn shows their true patriotism... Can you blame these people... either they have to produce this high quality troll farm material or they don't get potatoes... or they are people stupid enough to envy such a life... either way, you basically are dealing with the most pitiful form of human beings that the world has ever experienced. Thanks internet for bring the world together in such a harmoniou
The child molester (Score:1, Troll)
is the challenger, with video showing him feeling up a women well under age.
The incumbent merely grabs mature women.
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Is that why the incumbent was such good friends with Epstein?
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Ah, you think that's a "gotcha", don't you? Unlike Republicans it's possible for a liberal to not like the choice their party "leadership" foists on them. Sorry to disappoint.
They are both corrupt sleazebags.
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The hell are you talking about getting him out?
Biden hasn't been in office since Obama's two terms of race-baiting.
Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:1)
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He wouldn't file a STAR. That's for IFR. He could fly over the airport in a certain way without even talking to ATC though you really should be talking to them. There is a pathway over the airport. However I have a feeling this is a fool that know about none of the FAA rules.
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The same fool who had the wherewithal to build a fucking jetpack wouldn't have thought to consult the FAR?
I don't think so.
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The same fool who had the wherewithal to build a fucking jetpack wouldn't have thought to consult the FAR?
I don't think so.
LOL, I could build that jet pack. I had no trouble finding plans. I'm not fool enough to do that though. I also know about the FAR. Between the two I think the jet pack is easier. People see the FAR as in the way, stupid, not needed and so on. To be in compliance he'd need an ADS-B transponder and the associated certs, inspections, etc.. It's also not new. They've had jet packs out since the 1970s. Different technologies though.
The only reason why I know about the LA flyover is because I'm a pilot with almo
Re:Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:5, Funny)
Why do people always assume it is a he?
Because of empirical evidence: The Darwin Awards: sex differences in idiotic behaviour [bmj.com].
Women have won the Darwin Award, such as the two women that died on a railroad track while taking a selfie. But it is usually a result of momentary carelessness.
Meticulously planned and deliberately executed idiotic behavior is almost always concomitant with a Y chromosome.
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Meticulously planned and deliberately executed idiotic behavior is almost always concomitant with a Y chromosome.
That is the most fantastic quote I've seen in a while
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Wonderful link. Learned a new thing: MIT. +1 Informative!
Re:Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:5, Funny)
Why do people always assume it is a he?
There's a handy Venn diagram I cant find at the moment which shows the relationship between idiots -> male idiots -> white male idiots. Chances are it was a white male idiot, because in the female case Karens don't use jetpacks unless they're flying over to talk to the manager.
Re:Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:4, Informative)
That must be newer, in the 1970s I learned to use 'They'.
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Older, probably. You know, before all that "women voting" and "women having jobs" kind of stuff.
Re:Did he file a VFR flight plan? (Score:5, Interesting)
Show me a single biological female who has ever been involved in jetpack development or flying.
Go ahead, move the goalposts [ninety-nines.org]. And obviously, who ever heard of Amelia Earhart?
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Show me a single biological female who has ever been involved in jetpack development or flying.
Go ahead, move the goalposts [ninety-nines.org]. And obviously, who ever heard of Amelia Earhart?
Not the person you're responding to, but I'm pretty sure their less-than-polite phrasing meant "biological female who has ever been involved in jetpack development or *jetpack* flying".
Everyone knows Amelia Earhart was a big part of aviation history in that era, but I strongly suspect that she didn't moonlight as the Rocketeer.
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That's right. Because women aren't dumb and prefer to attach the jets to their legs, i.e. jetlegs. It makes for much easier control and frees the hands to hold gigantic guns. I present Strike Witches [funimation.com] as evidence (Striker Unit).
Obviously Elon Muskk (Score:1)
Yep it's Elon. That was my first thought. Branson (Score:2)
If there were TWO guys in jetpacks, I would assume most likely Richard Branson brought a toy over to play with his buddy Elon.
Social Distancing (Score:5, Funny)
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Even Florida Man deserves a vacation!
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Yeah, but the meal service really sucks.
I think it's a drone (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, it would be possible to build a manakin that looks like a person flying with a jet pack. It could use easily available drone technology. Because it is so hard to judge distance in that situation, it would not even have to be the size of a human. Making it smaller would make it easier to do.
The frightening aspect of a humanoid small scale drone is that it would be closer to the airliners then the pilots think it is. The chances of a collision would go up.
Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of prank that I can see some idiot doing. It not like they would be risking their lives and the fool who would do this kind of stunt would assume they would not get caught.
Re:I think it's a drone (Score:5, Funny)
Call him Manakin Skywalker.
Get it, because he's in the sky?
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And when the battery runs out of power, call him Manakin Skyfaller. Get it, because he's fa{#`%${%&`+'${`%&NO CARRIER
We apologize for the fault in this post. The person responsible has been sacked.
Re: I think it's a drone (Score:3)
Twin ducted fan?
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6,000' is pretty high up for consumer grade drone hardware, too.
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It could be something like this [youtube.com]. Special attention to t=50s.
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Perhaps it's someone flying a "baby Trump" balloon.
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I haven't heard of any "jet packs" that can carry a person to those altitudes. There are the wearable jet powered wings that can fly that high, but from the vague descriptions that doesn't seem to fit the bill.
That isn't how these words work.
"Wearable jet powered wings" are a type of jet pack.
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Re:I think it's a drone (Score:4, Funny)
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Maybe the drone laws in LA are too LAX?
made it more obvious for you since this is kind of funny...
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Re: I think it's a drone (Score:2)
I was thinking the same. A polystyrene model would be far easier and safer to get to 6,000ft than a heavy human. The drone would make very little noise when taking off or landing.
You beat me to it. (Score:3)
I think it's a drone.
Came here to suggest that but you beat me to it. Points to you. ... it would be possible to build a manakin that looks like a person flying with a jet pack. It could use easily available drone technology. Because it is so hard to judge distance in that situation, it would not even have to be the size of a human. Making it smaller would make it easier to do.
Alternatively, it could be a balloon rather than a pure heavier-than-air craft. Hot air, helium, hydrogen. Then it might be large
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All the suggestions you make are perfectly possible. However, regarding the first sighting I believe the pilot said it was flying alongside the plane, about 300 yards off the wing. If that is to be believed (I know witnesses can be totally unreliable, of course) then it suggests that particular incident was not a case of zipping by quickly, but a fair amount of time alongside the aircraft. Even at approach speed of, what, 150 knots (?? I'm not a pilot!) surely that's far too fast for a drone?
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I note that, again at 4:1 scale example, a balloon dead-stopped at 1,200 yards (plus three more wing lengths), a little over half a mile, would appear to be trying to pace t
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There is a jetpack in the UK which the Great North Air Ambulance Service was evaluating recently; in the video I saw they said it had about 5 minutes flight time. I'm not sure if that would be enough to reach 6000 feet, but I'd imagine it could get pretty high. They were just staying a few feet off the ground in order to get up a hill quickly. So it wouldn't shock me that it's possible. I would think that rather than flying around LAX you would head out into the desert if you had such a thing, but maybe tha
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I have not looked up the references, but didn't some French guy cross the English Channel by jet pack this year?
How many times does this have to happen..... (Score:5, Interesting)
Dashcams [Re:How many times does this hav (Score:5, Funny)
Don't you understand that humans don't do such UNTIL something bad happens?
Besides, it would result in pesky visits from MIB every time a saucer is spotted.
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Pilots and airlines don't want them. [wired.com] In an era when there is a massive shortage of pilots (Covid notwithstanding), making the working environment even more hostile isn't a good way to retain experienced pilots or attract new ones.
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Re:How many times does this have to happen..... (Score:5, Informative)
That article about is cameras watching the pilots. One of the key points of a dash cam is it's pointing the other way. Out the window.
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.... before they start installing what should essentially just be dash cams into airplanes, to enable them to analyze footage of phenomena later, after the flight, when it might not be well understood in the brief period that it was encountered?
Depends, just how much money have UFOs actually cost airlines compared to how much it would cost to retrofit wide angle high-res high-frame rate video cameras into planes?
Every project is always assessed against the cost of doing nothing. In many cases doing nothing wins.
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If it's about cost, then it's really not an issue.... the point of analyzing the footage isn't so much to protect people from something that has necessarily gone wrong it is to better understand something that the pilots might have seen which was unexpected so that they might know how to better deal with it in the future. The fact that nothing bad actually happened this time doesn't mean that it won't happen ever... and clearly this is something this is recurring, even if it is infrequent.
Also, it coul
Only in LA (Score:3)
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If you're willing to sign the right releases, the local makerspace could help you out with your prototype. Maybe the weather balloon "space" team can help document it. They fly really high, like, all the time.
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That is unless he takes himself out of the gene pool early: Hey everybody, watch this...(THUNK).
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Judge: My priority is to get the jetpack technology turned over to the people of the United States of America.
Elon: Well, you can forget it. I am JetPackMan. The jetpack and I are one. To turn over the jetpack would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending or what state you’re in. You can’t have it.
Experiment (Score:2)
Pick a major airport. Perhaps Atlanta. Agree with a flight crew to have them call in a fake drone sighting on landing. Have them call it in on a frequency other pilots will hear. Have some details in the call. "3 feet in diameter and black" or similar.
Now see how many other pilots call in the same. I bet you get more than 5 and less than 10. All reporting seeing the same drone.
Coming in on final at 200 mph, your not going to be able to see small objects clearly. From 100 yards, you have about 1 seco
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If the airplane is in a holding pattern above an airport, I would cut that speed about half and if he's banking it's pretty easy to see a relatively stationary object even at 6000ft, you can see individual houses at that height, so a man-sized object that is half as close or closer should be relatively visible. Jetpacks have been known to go to 6000ft.
De ja Vu? (Score:1)
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Sheesh. I can understand people who don't RTFA, but hell, RTFS, please. TFS mentioned the earlier incident.
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He read the summary! GET HIM!
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...again?
It's only a matter of time (Score:2)
It's only a matter of time until some idiot brings down a plane while doucheing around in the sky.
Or, even worse, you could probably perform a close-up attack on a plane and bring it down.
I'd bet that 4 or 5 people flying jetpacks could certainly bring enough firepower to down a plane, especially during takeoff and landing when the plane is already in a precarious position.
O Brave New World
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Couldn't one person in a Cessna do the same thing a lot more simply? Or two, if you insist on using firepower?
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It's only a matter of time until some idiot brings down a plane while doucheing around in the sky.
Now we're getting close to a viral video! You're almost there.
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What's at the end of the runway of pretty much every major US airport? Empty parkland where no one wants to live, a perfectly good location to set up any number of ways to take out an airliner at its most vulnerable moment, during takeoff/landing. Much simpler, cheaper, and easier. Which of course makes me wonder why the fearsome Islamic terriers that we're supposed to be terrified of never do anything.
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One person on the ground with a SAM would be a lot more practical.
Has to be a drone (Score:2)
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This more than likely is simply a drone, or purpose built drone, made to look like a flying human
If it is seen in the air by passing pilots they wouldn't even know how big it is other than by inference from the shape, so it could even be a small drone.
But amazing feets of agility with body-worn micro jets isn't hard to do. That isn't the problem. It is dangerous and illegal, is the problem. I'm guessing drone too, but it could totally be a real teenager. Or even a technoweenie.
Re: Has to be a drone (Score:2)
"Feets Of Agility" sounds like a really good name for a ballet or so.
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Or at least a 5 piece tap-dance band.
Very Unlikely They Don't Know Who it Is (Score:2)
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Come on, finding someone with perhaps $30,000 of disposable income, should not be that difficult!
LOL you've never been to California!
Some people spend that much on a surfboard.
Now look up what they spend on airplanes out there.
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Have you ever been to the beach?
Santa Clara County has a median income of $126k and a median home price of $1.11M.
You must spend 100% of your time a basement making engineering videos. Didn't you ever wonder why so many expensive cars drive by?
That you Elon? (Score:2)
How are jetpacks practical? (Score:3)
I can see maybe some limited value for the military but even then...
Simply put it's unpractical for almost all applications I can imagine. Even for something as simple as tree trimming or exterior building work it would be a fire hazard. Plus all the electrical lines one could crash into... forgetting about the pilots safety it would lead to numerous regularly damaged power lines, stopping businesses and people from working. The fuel is expensive and it would be unpractical to carry enough. If it fails your dead; no room for a parachute.
You could strategically get to a high floor on a high rise but I imagine there are military grappling hooks and drones that are more cost effective. You might be able to board a plane... Can't think of much else.
It's just a geek toy. The only thing that would redeem this type of technology would be the invention of anti gravity or changing inertial mass.
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It's just a geek toy.
Recreation is about all it's good for. So what. Like Jetskis have a practical use?
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Jetskis are used for common transport in cities that have a lot of waterways. I used to live in a city with six lakes all attached by streams and rivers. Some of the streams weren't deep enough for a regular boat, but a jetski could take you all the way through town.
I mean, that's not everywhere, but it was practical.
Packin' some jet (Score:2)
Jerpacks. You know, in the 70s, there was this fad called "streaking". Just tossing an idea out there.
Mando? (Score:1)
Well, Boys (Score:2)
It's Homelander.
The truth is going to be disappointing to many (Score:2)
Geography (Score:3)
mandalorian flying puppet. (Score:2)
Elon! (Score:1)