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 Gestoorde “Plane Swap” skydivingstunt (1) infographic
Graphic shows how the “Plane Swap” stunt is intended to work.
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ENTERTAINMENT

Krankzinnige “Plane Swap”-stunt zal kijkers in vervoering brengen

By Ninian Carter

April 24, 2022 - Cousins Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington will take to the skies in a physics-defying stunt that will see each man pilot an aircraft into a vertical dive, bail out mid-air and attempt to switch planes.

Like a madcap scene from a Looney Tunes cartoon, two daredevils will each fly their own customised Cessna 182 aircraft to an altitude of 4,200 metres (14,000 feet), simultaneously pitch the planes into a vertical dive and bail out – leaving the cockpits empty. They will then attempt to glide over to each other’s aircraft while free-falling and regain control before it’s too late.

Cousins Luke Aikins, 48, and Andy Farrington, 39, are both seasoned skydivers with nearly 50,000 parachute jumps between them. Aikins is renowned for performing the first-ever skydive without a parachute on live TV – landing in a giant net. Farrington is a two-times winner of the Red Bull ACES championship – a global wingsuit racing competition.

To pull off the stunt, the planes need to be slowed down during the pilotless nosedive or they’ll disintegrate.

Brazilian aeronautical engineer Paulo Iscold found a way to control their decent without using drogue chutes. His solution – a two-metre-square carbon-fibre air brake attached to the undercarriage (the stongest part of the light aircraft) that can be folded away when not needed.

The “Plane Swap” stunt livestreams exclusively on Hulu in U.S. and on Red Bull TV in rest of world at 2300GMT, on April 25, 2022.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 11/04/2022; STORY: Graphic News
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