Red Bull Plane Swap Pilot Appears to Post Instagram Confession

Friday, April 29, 2022 at 01:33 PM ET

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Luke Aikins said he received an email from the FAA denying his request for an exemption from certain federal regulations that would have cleared his team to perform the swap. [Photo: Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Content Pool] SI202204260695 // Usage for editorial use only //

Key Takeaways:

Luke Aikins, the lead pilot for the Red Bull Plane Swap stunt, publicly admitted to proceeding with the event without FAA permission.
Aikins confessed he received an email denying his request for a regulatory exemption but chose to withhold this information from his team.
During the stunt, one plane crashed after a pilot aborted his swap, while Aikins successfully completed his transfer between planes.
The FAA is currently investigating the incident, and Aikins has stated he is cooperating with authorities.

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Luke Aikins, the lead pilot for the Red Bull Plane Swap stunt that streamed live last Sunday on Hulu, has apparently posted a message on his Instagram page in which he takes responsibility for continuing with the event without permission from the FAA.

In the Instagram statement, Aikins says he received an email from the FAA denying his request for an exemption from certain federal regulations that would have cleared his team to perform the swap, but says he kept that information from other team members.