Red Bull Plane Swap Stunt on Hulu Leads To One Crashed Plane and An FAA Investigation

Despite the fact that the event touted as “Plane Swap” was highly publicized by both its sponsor (Red Bull) and the platform that broadcast it (Hulu), the dangerous stunt that took place yesterday (Sunday, April 24) was not sanctioned by the FAA — whoops! — and is now being looked into after the resulting crash — double whoops! — of one of the airplanes involved.

Plane Swap was a stunt involving two pilots (who are also skydivers), Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington, who attempted a synchronized jump out of their Cessna 182 airplanes, with the intention of landing in the other’s plane, which they would then fly to safety. The jump would require both pilots to leave their planes unmanned with no one at the controls, and while Aikins was able to successfully jump into Farrington’s plane and land it, Farrington was forced to abort the mission and parachute to the ground when the second plane spun out of control, crashing to the ground. (You can watch the nail-biting stunt in the Twitter video below.)

The event was a production of Red Bull Media House, who promoted it heavily on their website and promised that “hours and hours” were put into developing the project, and it was aired exclusively on Hulu. It is now being investigated by the Federal Aviation Association, who had denied a request on Friday from organizers to get an exemption from regulations that cover the safe operation of aircraft. The denial from the FAA stated that the stunt “would not be in the public interest” and that the FAA “cannot find that the proposed operation would not adversely affect safety.”

A press release from Red Bull took a more triumphant approach, stating, “Pilot Luke Aikins successfully achieves ‘Plane Swap.’… The feat was partially accomplished as one pilot successfully swapped planes and landed the aircraft in the Arizona desert.”

Your move, Slim Jim!