INTERNATIONAL: A pair of death-defying pilots only partially succeeded in their attempt to complete the first-ever mid-air ‘plane swap’ in Phoenix, Arizona.
Cousins Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington each piloted a small Cessna 182 to an altitude of 14,000 feet, put their planes into a controlled nosedive and jumped out.
Aikins successfully swapped planes but Farrington was unable to enter the plane he was approaching. He skydived into a safe landing.
The second plane’s safety mechanisms were then activated but the plane was damaged.
Neither of the pilots, nor anybody else, was injured.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN AND SKYDIVER, LUKE AIKINS, SAYING:
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: "I'm so sorry."
AIKINS: "Hey man. That's why we're here where we are. Everybody is safe. The parachute system worked just like it was supposed to."
SKYDIVER, LUKE AIKINS, SAid:
"Andy is fine. Yeah, he said... he's like, I could hear him talking to me in free fall."
SKYDIVER, LUKE AIKINS, SAYING:
"I mean, we proved that it was possible. I mean, we're pushing boundaries out here and what's great is I jump from one, I got in the other one, and we landed. I landed safely. Andy landed safely under parachute. The plane landed under a parachute, all of our safety protocols worked.
SKYDIVER, ANDY FARRINGTON, Said:
"Yeah, I mean we're there, all the numbers matched up and everything like that. Everything should have been good to go. For some reason it wasn't that way, but at the end of the day, we're both here. We're both good to go, everybody safe and sound, and I guess that's the important part."
PHOTO: HIGHLIGHTS OF PLANE SWAP ATTEMPT IN WHICH ONE PILOT SWAPPED PLANES, BUT THE OTHER DIDN'T