Skydiving pilots nearly pull off plane swap engineered by Cal Poly professors. Watch it here
A pair of skydiver pilots nearly pulled off a daredevil mid-air plane swap engineered by two Cal Poly professors.
Red Bull skydivers Andy Farrington and Luke Aikins came halfway to realizing their dream of swapping planes mid-air in a highly publicized, “physics-defying” event live-streamed over the Arizona desert on Red Bull TV and Hulu.
On Sunday afternoon, Farrington and Aikins piloted their two planes 14,000 feet into the Arizona skies. Next, they pointed their planes toward the ground, jumped out and attempted to swap planes.
Aikins completed the swap and landed the plane safely.
Farrington approached the plane but was unable to enter it.
He parachuted to safety, according to a statement by Red Bull, and the plane’s safety mechanisms activated. It descended to the ground suspended by a parachute attached to its tail but sustained damage in the landing.
Neither of the pilots, nor anybody else, was injured.
“There’s no way to test it until you do it,” skydiver Luke Aikins said of the stunt, according to an Instagram post by Red Bull.
This skydivers’ dramatic attempt didn’t happen overnight. It was dreamed up by the cousins at least 10 years ago, and more than 200 people were involved in working to make the idea a reality.
In a Instagram story posted on Saturday, skydiver Luke Aikins said the stunt is “still unbelievable.”
“Like most of my projects, I’m fortunate enough to have such an amazing team behind me to help make this thing happen,” Aikins said.
Cal Poly professors design plane’s autopilot system
Two of the team members who played a key role in the stunt were Cal Poly aerospace engineering professors Leo Torres and Paulo Iscold.
Iscold, who engineered the plan, noted that skydivers don’t typically pilot the planes they’re jumping out of.
“Luke has this vision that’s a little bit different,” Iscold said.
Iscold and Torres developed an auto-pilot system that would fly planes pointing to the ground instead of keeping them level — the first of its kind.
“We have to rely on that system 100% — that’s what makes me nervous,” Iscold said.
After training in San Luis Obispo, the crew spent the past week in Arizona preparing for Sunday’s plane swap stunt.
Sunday was the first time the stunt was attempted completely, since pilots were in the planes during rehearsals in case anything went wrong.
Iscold said this influenced the planes’ weight and center of gravity, something he’s accounting for when it’s time for the real deal.
Ahead of the event, the engineer said he was experiencing “a mix of anxiety and excitement.”
“If everything goes right today, it’s gonna be a pretty cool project,” Iscold said.
Although Iscold didn’t involve any students in the project due to the high risk involved, he’s been sharing his findings with his classes.
During winter quarter, Iscold taught a class at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, where his students could watch the crew’s training. Aikins has also spoken to one of Iscold’s classes.
“A project like this is very relevant to students going to the market,” Iscold said.
Iscold said his students gathered Sunday to watch the plane swap livestream. The presentation by Honda’s 3D virtual production included the skydivers’ perspectives during the jump and a step-by-step explanation of the science behind the attempt.
“You will never see this happening again,” Iscold said. “It’s a difficult problem to solve, which for me particularly is a way to I believe make me sharper as an engineer.”
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This story was originally published April 25, 2022 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Skydiving pilots nearly pull off plane swap engineered by Cal Poly professors. Watch it here."
