Pilot Luke Aikins is seen successfully entering the silver airplane, during Plane Swap in Eloy, Arizona, on April 24, 2022. [Photo: Predrag Vuckovic / Red Bull Content Pool]
Key Takeaways:
The NTSB's final report on the 2022 Red Bull Airplane Swap stunt concluded that one Cessna 182 crashed due to a ballast shift, causing it to stall and enter an unrecoverable spin after the pilot bailed out.
The stunt was conducted without FAA authorization; pilot Luke Aikins had received an explicit denial for the exemption request but did not disclose this to Red Bull or his team.
Following the failed stunt, the FAA revoked both pilots' certificates for one year, and proposed a nearly $5,000 fine for Aikins, citing multiple regulatory violations including careless operation.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final report regarding the crash of a Cessna 182 that was part of the Red Bull Airplane Swap stunt.
The stunt, which was streamed on Hulu on April 24, 2022, involved pilots and skydivers Luke Aikins, 48, and Andy Farrington, 39, flying a pair of modified C-182s.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
