Its LA some rich kids are having some risky fun
Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
11–20 of 486 posts
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#12>> 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. No. Yves "Jetman" Rossi's design can now launch from a standing position on the ground. It is able to launch, hover, transition to forward flight and zoom-climb to several thousand feet. Other than the landing, which is currently still via parachute ... ironman.
Source?
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#13>> 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. No. Yves "Jetman" Rossi's design can now launch from a standing position on the ground. It is able to launch, hover, transition to forward flight and zoom-climb to several thousand feet. Other than the landing, which is currently still via parachute ... ironman.
Source?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj-Iwv5NJKg
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/17/tech/jetman-dubai-trnd/index....
"The achievement occurred last Friday, when Jetman pilot Vince Reffett took off from a standing start on the runway at Skydive Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and then flew up to nearly 6,000 feet in altitude. He demonstrated the ability to hover, stop, turn and maneuver."
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#14>> 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. No. Yves "Jetman" Rossi's design can now launch from a standing position on the ground. It is able to launch, hover, transition to forward flight and zoom-climb to several thousand feet. Other than the landing, which is currently still via parachute ... ironman.
Source?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de_YJzKeGKU
Go to about 3 minutes in to see the take off from standing and continuing to hover.
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#15This sort of cowboying is how cool technologies end up getting banned and set back years.
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#16I recognize those 'jetcat' engines.
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#17ATCs have a reputation for never losing their cool and that really shines through here:
“Tower, there’s a guy in a jetpack flying outside.”
“Copy. To your left or your right?”
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#18I don't think there's any question the pilots would describe it as "a guy in a jetpack" if they weren't sure that's what they were looking at. Spotting traffic around the plane is part of pilot training.
With that being said, if it zipped by the plane very quickly, there's the possibility it was maybe a very large RC plane shaped like a guy in a jetpack, which I think could be a bit more plausible.
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#19I don’t imagine it was these guys but another “Ironman” type flight suit I’ve been following is the tech from https://gravity.co/ - it looks like so much fun although I’m sure it’s much harder to use that the videos suggest.
Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them
#20>> 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. No. Yves "Jetman" Rossi's design can now launch from a standing position on the ground. It is able to launch, hover, transition to forward flight and zoom-climb to several thousand feet. Other than the landing, which is currently still via parachute ... ironman.
Even if it's not Rossi, whose design has been years in the making, I think a copycat is most likely here. Rossi's wing operates at 4000+ feet and 189mph, which is comparable to jets slowing down on long final. Those hobby jet engines are very expensive but off the shelf, and anyone can build a wing in their garage. The FAA would classify it as an aircraft (already has), and would like to talk to this operator.
I think you can rule out the multirotor bathtubs for now.