New Delhi: The very first half “plane swap,” performed by two daredevil pilots on Sunday, failed as one of the planes involved got out of control and crashed into the ground in Arizona, United States. The skydivers – cousins Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington, who were members of the Red Bull Air Force Aviation group – were unharmed and no fatalities were recorded, as per the New York Post.
The pilots were attempting to board each other’s jets in mid-flight, leaving both planes empty. The skydivers would seek to swap as they fell toward the ground, according to Red Bull’s website. In the sky, however, everything went wrong, sending one plane into a tailspin before smashing into the soil in Arizona.
For the Red Bull-sponsored planes, the stunt backfired spectacularly. The two pilots planned to pitch their Cessna 182 planes into a synchronized nosedive at 14,000 feet by shutting down the motors and using a custom-built airbrake to keep the planes in a managed drop at 140 mph. The pilots were meant to exit their individual planes and skydive through every other’s, passing over in mid-air and recovering control in under one minute, according to the plan.
Unfortunately, the plane Mr. Farrington was diving into immediately spiralled out of command and into a downward tailspin, becoming exceedingly inconsistent with the height of the other plane after the two had done their jumps. As his plane dropped, Mr. Farrington was forced to drop to the earth. Mr. Aikins, on the other hand, completed the manoeuvre perfectly into his own plane.
This #RedBull #PlaneSwap in Arizona was crazy! Didn’t go as planned but luckily everyone is alright! pic.twitter.com/f9cpRclYtT
— Aaron Tevis (@AaronTevis) April 25, 2022
“All the numbers matched up and everything like that,” Mr. Farrington remarked after reaching the ground, according to the Post. “Everybody should have been great to go,” he said, “but for some reason, it wasn’t that way.” “At the end of the day, we’re both here, we’re both okay to go, everyone’s unharmed, and I think that’s the main part,” he concluded.
However, as per NBC News, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Red Bull (FAA). Officials said the agency had denied the company’s request for an exclusion from standards governing the safe operating of airplanes on Friday. As a result of the FAA inquiry, the two pilots might be banned, fined, or have their licenses revoked.
