ELOY, Ariz. — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after an aircraft involved in Red Bull’s livestreamed “Plane Swap” crashed in Arizona.
According to KTVK, nobody was hurt in the incident, which occurred Sunday evening near Eloy. Red Bull Air Force skydivers Luke Aikins, 48, and his cousin, 39-year-old Andy Farrington, flew their Cessna 182 planes to more than 12,000 feet and jumped out shortly before 6:45 p.m. PDT during the historic attempt to swap their aircraft in midair, USA Today reported.
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Although Aikins made it into the other aircraft and land it successfully, Farrington did not, according to USA Today.
“Blue plane is out of control,” Farrington said during Hulu’s live broadcast of the event.
He landed safely after deploying a parachute, USA Today reported. Meanwhile, the unmanned plane’s automatic parachute eventually activated as the aircraft continued its descent and crashed, according to the newspaper.
In a statement, the FAA said it had struck down Red Bull’s request to be exempted from the agency’s safety rules for the event, KTVK reported.
“There is no public interest in granting the exemption request,” the FAA wrote in a letter, citing safety concerns.
In an April 18 news release, Red Bull said the stunt, imagined by Aikins, would mark “the first time in aviation history a pilot will take off in one plane and land in another.”
“‘Plane Swap’ is the pinnacle of my career, and my goal is to inspire the world and show that anything is possible,” Aikins, who set a world freefall record in 2016 by jumping from 25,000 feet without a parachute, said in a statement last week. “You can set your mind on something that at times seems wild, crazy and unattainable, but through ambition and creativity, you can make it happen.”
Aikins has logged more than 21,000 skydives, while Farrington has had 27,000, the release said.