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A Red Bull stunt that ended in a plane crash now has the attention of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The pilots of two planes planned to swap planes midflight, leaving each aircraft unmanned for a short while, but the stunt went wrong. Luckily, both pilots ended up uninjured.
The fiasco brought a lot of attention to Red Bull’s disregard for FAA laws and regulations.
FAA investigating Red Bull "plane swap" stunt gone wrong. @giobenitez has the story. https://abcn.ws/3vgkBpz\u00a0pic.twitter.com/uH8H1my36l— Good Morning America (@Good Morning America) 1650974278
Red Bull advertised the event as a “world’s first” for the aviation feat and livestreamed the stunt on Hulu. The plan was for skydivers, pilots and cousins Luke Aikens and Andy Farrington to fly over the Arizona desert.
The engines would be turned off and the planes locked in auto pilot to guide their descent, allowing the pair to exit the cockpit of their respective crafts and skydive toward the opposite plane.
However, during the swap, one of the planes started falling much faster than the other, causing the craft to crash.
Wow i have just watched it. Bonkers— Jima Forwood (@Jima Forwood) 1650920334
Good. we can't just start crashing airplanes for attention. this is ridiculous. make @redbull pay to clean up the entire mess. every screw!— BlueLeader2020 (@BlueLeader2020) 1650996980
Well, that\u2019s unexpected news— Nikki \u201c10 years is ridiculous \u201d Windsor \u264e\ufe0f (@Nikki \u201c10 years is ridiculous \u201d Windsor \u264e\ufe0f) 1650892601
This is too crazy.— SunnyChiu - Excel data make bulk barcodes (@SunnyChiu - Excel data make bulk barcodes) 1650916241
This all sounds bad, but everyone ended up unharmed and Red Bull is out the cost of the plane. What could possibly be so wrong the FAA would investigate?
At issue is the fact the brothers left their vehicles unpiloted. It is against the law to leave your vehicle unmanned while flying safely in the air.
Aikens and Farrington had applied for a waiver of this legal requirement for this stunt, but the FAA had denied their request. Despite this, they went forward with the stunt anyway.
To justify the waiver, the pilots claimed that the stunt would drive up interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and encourage people to pursue those careers.
However, the FAA didn’t agree. They told the cousins in their rejection letter that “would not be in the public interest and cannot find that the proposed operation would not adversely affect safety.”
Despite this, some didn’t think the FAA needed to investigate anything.
I don't see why this was a "disaster," as no one was hurt, one of the plane swaps actually worked, and the stunt was done in the middle of nowhere where a crashing plane couldn't hurt anyone. I'd actually call it pretty cool and half-successful!— Stanphyl Capital (@Stanphyl Capital) 1650898315
Well, I really thought this stupid as a pilot... and I am correcthttps://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1518677494064373765\u00a0\u2026— somewhere_in_cali (@somewhere_in_cali) 1650919523
That would take away the point of the stunt...also its way more dangerous to have someone else in those planes in that scenario. The planes were off and had parachutes built into them just for this scenario.— CW71 (@CW71) 1650909305
I hope that @redbull pays for the clean-up and any environmental damage done as a result of the crash.— HollyJahangiri, Author \ud83c\udf3b (@HollyJahangiri, Author \ud83c\udf3b) 1650893093
Red Bull has become known for these kinds of stunts. From doing donuts in an F1 racecar on top of the Burj Al Arab’s helipad, to Felix Baumgartner’s record breaking skydive into supersonic freefall, these stunts have always drawn attention.
Which makes the decision to proceed with the plane swap stunt without proper waivers all the more perplexing.
Maybe Red Bull had been listening to their own marketing a little too much and thought they’d get the wings to escape consequences?
I always crash after a Red Bull too...— Mack (@Mack) 1650898105
I guess that whole \u201cIt gives you wings!\u201d thing might need a rethink..— Jay Rawley (@Jay Rawley) 1650937169
Brought to you by Hulu... https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1518765081747767304\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/ufBNypDgXZ— Torre al Cielo (@Torre al Cielo) 1650937188
Being a dangerous idiot in a red bull branded vehicle doesn\u2019t stop with Mad @Max33Verstappen it seems\u2026.. #F1https://twitter.com/abc/status/1519016190999412740\u00a0\u2026— Bernie Ecclescake (@Bernie Ecclescake) 1650996816
Red Bull giveth, the FAA taketh away.— JB(I/Me) (@JB(I/Me)) 1650916128
Red Bull has not responded to any news outlet’s request for comment. There is no timeframe yet established for the FAA’s investigation either.
However, the National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the crash and plans to have an initial report in the next few weeks.