Aviation Stunts: A History Lesson

Almost from the start of aviation, well before the advent social media, people have been pushing the boundaries of aircraft.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 at 03:22 PM ET

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John “Auggy” Pedlar has a seat on the wing. [Courtesy: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

Aviation stunts have a long and varied history, predating modern regulatory bodies and social media, with early acts like barnstorming, wing walking, and mid-air tennis performed for public entertainment and publicity.
Early aviation stunts were often extremely dangerous, leading to fatalities and prompting authorities like the Civil Aeronautics Authority (precursor to the FAA) to introduce safety regulations, such as mandatory parachutes for wing walkers.
Famous aviators like Charles Lindbergh, Douglas Corrigan ("Wrong Way Corrigan"), and Howard Hughes were involved in or created significant aviation "stunts," sometimes by intentionally defying rules or feigning accidents to achieve goals or gain attention.

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A stunt is defined as an unusual or difficult feat requiring great skill or daring, especially one performed or undertaken chiefly to gain attention or publicity.

Recently, we’ve seen two “stunts” involving aviation—the YouTuber who intentionally crashed his airplane for video views and the Red Bull midair airplane swap. The FAA has taken a dim view of both events, and there have been discussions that the stunts were encouraged by social media. However, stunts involving aircraft go back to the early days of aviation, well before the invention of social media, the computer—and the FAA.