'Jetpack Man' Spotted Flying Around LA Airport May Be Human-Shaped Balloon

Published November 5, 2021

There are many jobs in which you're encouraged to expect the unexpected, but there aren't many that require that unique ability more than being an airline pilot.

Not only do pilots often have to deal with mechanical problems and unpredictable passengers, but there's also the possibility that anything else in the sky could be on a collision course with the plane at any time.

And as increasingly declassified reports of UFOs make clear, it's entirely possible for pilots to never truly find out what almost hit them.

But while we might be able to accept that we'll simply never know what some things are, it's all the more maddening when we're sure of what we're seeing, but nobody seems to be able to find it after we do.

And this bizarre lack of answers after some mysterious incidents over the last year are leaving investigators wondering if pilots have really been seeing what they think they have.

Starting in August of 2020, pilots touching down in Los Angeles' LAX airport have periodically reported seeing a man flying near them with a jetpack.

Wikimedia Commons | Fir0002/Flagstaffotos

As we discussed at the time, both an American Airlines and SkyWest pilot reported seeing him on August 30 and brushed his presence off by saying, "Only in L.A."

However, Insider reported that the mysterious man seemed to return in October of 2020 and July of 2021 despite already being under investigation by the FAA and the FBI.

Stranger still, neither organization has found any trace of the man since his initial appearance on August 30.

20th Century Fox Television via YouTube

As a representative from the FAA told KTLA, "The FAA has worked closely with the FBI to investigate every reported jetpack sighting. So far, none of these sightings have been verified."

Their investigations remain ongoing, but new developments have introduced a possibility that would explain why the owner of such an advanced piece of equipment has been so hard to track down.

As ABC reporter Sam Sweeney tweeted out, footage from an LAPD helicopter suggests there may not be a jetpack man at all.

Instead, it's possible that the pilots had actually been encountering large human-shaped balloons like the one we see here.

And both the FAA and the FBI are entertaining this possibility as they've released separate statements saying, "One working theory is that pilots might have seen balloons."

It's a little hard to see in the footage, but the balloon appears to depict Jack Skellington from the "Nightmare Before Christmas."

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment via YouTube

And given that character's enduring popularity, it's not outside the realm of possibility that a balloon of a large enough size to be spotted from airplanes would be manufactured.

But if it's indeed true that there was never a jetpack man, it remains unclear how the balloon came to find itself hovering over LAX in the first place.

h/t: Insider

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