Daredevil Pilots Get Credentials Yanked After Mid-Air ‘Plane Swap’ Stunt Goes Wrong
‘CARELESS AND RECKLESS’
A botched “plane swap” stunt over the Arizona desert has led to the Federal Aviation Administration revoking the licenses of the two pilots who participated in the daring feat, the agency said Thursday. The April 24 stunt, sponsored by Red Bull and live-streamed on Hulu, saw experienced daredevil pilots Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington attempt to sky-dive into one another’s planes in mid-air. While Aikins completed the stunt and landed his Cessna 182 model plane safely, Farrington was unable to get into the other aircraft, which crashed down about 65 miles southeast of Phoenix. Both pilots were uninjured. In documents shared with reporters, the FAA accused the pair of being “careless and reckless as to endanger the life and property of another,” charging them with taking off their seatbelts and unnecessarily leaving their crafts. Lead pilot Aikins had applied for an FAA permit to perform the stunt in February. Two days before the stunt was set to be performed, however, the agency denied Aikins’ petition. “I made the personal decision to move forward with plane swap,” Aikins wrote on Instagram on April 29. “I regret not sharing this information with my team and those who supported me.”