Luke Aikins planning new stunt.

4 hours ago, skydiverek said:

VIDEO of actual practice jumps attached below:

The video helps make clear what the CNN article spells out, this is a lot easier than I initially expected due to the fact they are deploying those large speed brakes that allow the plane to fall basically straight down at precisely designed speed.

I can't quite see if there is someone in the right seat in the practice, but I am sure there is. Which is why they can do this in Oregon. The actual pilot-less plane make sense to do in AZ where if things go wrong clean up is easier.

15 hours ago, gowlerk said:

Foolish? I never said that. You are putting words into my mouth. I'm sure the Gods of Red Bull and Pay Per View will be fine. Until they aren't. Hey Evel Knievel died of natural causes in the end. The show must go on.

Why the snark? 

Because skydiving will look bad if something goes wrong?  Because it isn't you getting paid (I get that, I wish I was good enough to get some of that Red Bull $$)? 

You mentioned Tom Noonan earlier.  Luke is not providing some guy with too much money an "extreme experience".  He's a professional stuntman doing an impressive stunt. If he fucks up, no paying customers will be injured or die. Huge difference. 

I'll be watching. 

11 minutes ago, skybytch said:

Why the snark? 

I guess it's because I dislike the whole circus and promotional thing. I certainly am not worried about skydiving looking bad. There is no such thing as bad publicity. If there is anything to worry about being carried over to skydiving it would be more young men with unrealistic expectations showing up at the DZ to learn cool stunts. But we already deal with that all the time anyway. 

I much prefer the typical BASE ethic where for the most part you do extreme things and only your close friends know about it.

18 minutes ago, skybytch said:

If he fucks up, no paying customers will be injured or die.

And that is the other part. Some of the target audience for these things has bloodlust. Will the gladiator slay the lion? It will only sell as a live event. No one pays to watch stuff like this if they know the outcome. I will likely watch it as well. But certainly not on pay per view .It will still be cool to see footage a week later on Youtube. I don't feel a need to see death defied.

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

you do extreme things and only your close friends know about it

that isn't easy with stunts like this. Designing / building the speed brakes takes $. That takes a sponsor and they want something for it. Same thing with Luke's net jump. Skipping the carnival barker lead up will be what I want to do, but watching the stunt will be fun.

Pooping on people who do "tricks" where they could get hurt (the bloodlust comment) is a pretty broad brush. Sure there are always those watching NASCAR hoping for a crash, or football / hockey hoping for a big concussion inducing hit, but just because those people exist doesn't mean the entire sport(s) / show(s) are horribly exploitational ideas.

19 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Luke and Andy... I don't doubt for a minute that they have the abilities to pull off the stunt.

Actually it shouldn't be that hard to do. If they've got the fall rate and stability of the airplanes worked out, which apparently they do, I bet most good skydivers could fly the stunt. And with practice, which they are doing, climbing in would become as rote as climbing out. The ballsy part would be if they plan to do the stunt chuteless. Not sure how they would work that out with the authorities. I remember Jimmy Tyler at least claimed he went down to Mexico to do his chuteless stunts, and Travis Pastrana got in some trouble for doing his. Don't know what arrangements Luke made for the net jump.

9 hours ago, gowlerk said:

I guess it's because I dislike the whole circus and promotional thing.

I much prefer the typical BASE ethic where for the most part you do extreme things and only your close friends know about it.

I can't say that I wholly disagree with that. But the promotional/money aspect is the whole/only reason to do something like this.

6 minutes ago, dudeman17 said:

Actually it shouldn't be that hard to do. If they've got the fall rate and stability of the airplanes worked out, which apparently they do, I bet most good skydivers could fly the stunt. And with practice, which they are doing, climbing in would become as rote as climbing out. The ballsy part would be if they plan to do the stunt chuteless. Not sure how they would work that out with the authorities. I remember Jimmy Tyler at least claimed he went down to Mexico to do his chuteless stunts, and Travis Pastrana got in some trouble for doing his. Don't know what arrangements Luke made for the net jump.

 

I can't say that I wholly disagree with that. But the promotional/money aspect is the whole/only reason to do something like this.

After Luke's last stunt into the net I was fearful next up would be a naked jump from 25K into a splash pool filled with jello. Sure the skydiving skills needed aren't completely rare but the ability to control yourself and focus in the face of unknowns is not so common. Also, they'll have worked hard to be sure the aircraft are where they're supposed to be for re-boarding. Rig or no rig it'll be a bit tricky, no doubt.

The skydiving part seems 'simple enough', for skilled, practiced skydivers. (Not trying to diminish the achievement though!)

An interesting bit is the autopilots for the airplanes, so they aren't just unguided missiles randomly drifting away or towards each other, maybe falling faster or slower due to small aerodynamic differences, making the jumpers do extra chasing around the sky. 

The original article stated:

Quote

The Cessna is also filled with sensors and a complex vector navigation system, which enables Iscold to track and monitor every aspect of its flight -- crucial given that it will be flying without a pilot during the stunt

Will be interesting some day to read more about that bit of engineering.

On 3/17/2022 at 6:30 PM, dudeman17 said:

Okay, that was a bit snarky, but the following isn't. Genuine, curious questions...

Other than the net jump and Baumgartner's jump, what else has he worked on?

 

Are they planning to not wear rigs on the actual stunt?

Luke has a rather impressive resume.
Lots and lots of 'Hollywood' work. 

No clue if they're planning on wearing rigs for the stunt. I would expect so, but I could certainly be wrong. 
If it goes as planned, they wouldn't need them.

16 hours ago, dudeman17 said:

.. The ballsy part would be if they plan to do the stunt chuteless. Not sure how they would work that out with the authorities. I remember Jimmy Tyler at least claimed he went down to Mexico to do his chuteless stunts, and Travis Pastrana got in some trouble for doing his. Don't know what arrangements Luke made for the net jump.

As noted above, I haven't heard specifically that they plan on going without rigs.

But it's not a legal requirement.
There's no FAA rule that says you have to have a rig to jump from a plane. 
Just stuff about the rig (TSO'd, packed properly, in date, ect).

The only 'trouble' Pastrana got into was his license got suspended by USPA for 6 months.

Luke worked very closely with both the FAA & USPA for the net jump.
He got the minimum pull altitudes waived for his practice jumps.

Interestingly, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) almost stopped the jump.
They wanted to make Luke wear a rig, and threatened his SAG card (and future work).

Having a rig on his back would have made the landing problematic.
Fortunately, he convinced them to let him do it as planned.

Quote

Other than the net jump and Baumgartner's jump, what else has he worked on?

Luke's IMDB profile here

Ten bucks says Andy gets in the seat first.

On 3/17/2022 at 6:17 PM, JerryBaumchen said:

I just do not like the term 'engineer' being tossed around willy nilly.  Some of us worked very hard for that title.

Jerry Baumchen

just curious if you're ok with my job title being a network field engineer.  no engineering school involved, but a lot of physical network engineering.  it's a matter of semantics, but those matter to some folks.

6 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

just curious if you're ok with my job title being a network field engineer.  no engineering school involved, but a lot of physical network engineering.  it's a matter of semantics, but those matter to some folks.

Hi 13,

No.

Jerry Baumchen

PS)  Do you call the person who cleans your teeth doctor?

That huge "air brake" also looks like a convenient landing pad.

Is it painted with non-skid?

2 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi 13,

No.

Jerry Baumchen

PS)  Do you call the person who cleans your teeth doctor?

 

they called me the engineer, i don't care what they call me as long as the check clears.  $40 an hour to sit on my arse in my jammies, or travel around anywhere and work gets that kind of loyalty.  all the way until they laid me off.  half of the jobs i apply for is network engineering.  i was also a combat engineer.  still affiliated with the corpse of engineers.  lol.  yeah, i've paid my dues.  i'm an engineer.

I'm excited to watch this Plane Swap.... and wonder what will come next!

3 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

they called me the engineer, i don't care what they call me as long as the check clears.  $40 an hour to sit on my arse in my jammies, or travel around anywhere and work gets that kind of loyalty.  all the way until they laid me off.  half of the jobs i apply for is network engineering.  i was also a combat engineer.  still affiliated with the corpse of engineers.  lol.  yeah, i've paid my dues.  i'm an engineer.

Hi 13,

I answered your question.  You did not answer mine.

Jerry Baumchen

LIVE free STREAM:

https://www.redbull.com/au-en/live/plane-swap-2022

33 minutes ago, billvon said:

Well, at least no one got hurt.

Yes, and there didn't really seem to be much chance that anyone would. Has anyone seen video of the BRS descent and landing? The don't seem to be wanting to talk much about that part.

The plane is totaled (crash landed), looks like parachute might have entangled with the tail and did not slow it down enough.

BTW, here is the corcscrew part from the live stream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODCzlEyaSDM

10 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi 13,

I answered your question.  You did not answer mine.

Jerry Baumchen

yes, the person cleaning my teeth is a doctor of dental medicine.  i had to look it up since i don't care much about titles, and strangely enough he is also called a dentist.  i always called him doc whenever i went to him.

Maybe next with two Otters and 10 skydivers in each from 15,000.  I'll float.....

3 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

yes, the person cleaning my teeth is a doctor of dental medicine.

The doctor (commonly called a dentist) is the one who comes in after the cleaning and looks in your mouth to check  your teeth. The person who cleans them is a dental hygienist, and is not a doctor. Or an engineer. 

24 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

The doctor (commonly called a dentist) is the one who comes in after the cleaning and looks in your mouth to check  your teeth. The person who cleans them is a dental hygienist, and is not a doctor. Or an engineer. 

For a second there I thought I clicked the wrong link and was in Speakers Corner!

Brilliant back and forth about Engineering and Dentistry!

Don't know if I needed to capitalize the name of both of those fields, but I am sure some nitpicker will come along soon to correct me if needed.