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 determined the Red Bull Airplane Swap crash of a Cessna 182 was caused by a ballast shift that led to a stall and subsequent unrecoverable inverted spin after the pilot exited the aircraft.
The high-altitude plane swap stunt failed when one aircraft crashed after its pilot departed, while the other pilot successfully landed the swapped plane and the second pilot parachuted to safety.
The FAA had denied permission for the stunt, a fact one pilot admitted withholding, resulting in the revocation of both pilots' certificates for one year and a proposed fine for the pilot who withheld the information.
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.
