Luke Aikens and Andy Farrington will attempt the worlds first "plane swap"
Two cousins in California will be attempting to do one of the most dangerous stunts this Sunday (April 24) - swapping planes mid-air. Luke Aikens and Andy Farrington, who are pilots as well as being skydivers, will attempt the world's first “plane swap” wherein they will fly their planes close to each other, put them into a nosedive and then jump out of their respective planes and attempt to swap and take control of the others, and resume flying. Both cousins are part of the Red Bull Air Force aviation crew and preformed a test dive during training on March 6 in California.
The stunt which will be livestreamed on Sunday will involve the pair taking off in two Cessna 182 single-seat aircrafts and fly to a height of 14,000 feet. The entire process of them taking over each other's planes after skydiving into them is quite complex as it involves them catching up to the aircrafts, entering the cockpits, disengaging the airbrake systems, restarting the engines and finally taking control of the planes.
While both cousins are no stranger to daredevil acts, Luke Aikens currently holds the world record of freefalling 25,000 feet without a parachute and surviving. Andy Farrington meanwhile has done over 27,000 jumps, 1,000 BASE jumps and has recorded over 6,000 hours as a pilot according to Red Bull.
The Red Bull Air Force, according to its website, is a team assembled from the most accomplished and experienced aviation experts on the planet. They specialise in highly coordinated aerial jump demonstrations and continually push the limits of human flight.
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