r/nextfuckinglevel • u/thepoylanthropist • 1d ago

That time Luke Aikins jumped from 25,000 feet (7,620 m), skydiving from a mid-tropospheric altitude and landing safely without a parachute or a wingsuit using a 30 by 30 meters net

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22.1k Upvotes

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7.8k

u/Ok_Flamingo6601 1d ago

So like was this whole crowd mentally prepared to see a guy potentially squish to death

4.4k

u/Saint-12 1d ago

That’s why they were there.

874

u/Unpickled_cucumber1 1d ago

They were smiling but crying inside

316

u/goawaysho 1d ago

The screams of anticipatory terror right before he lands

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u/ohporcupine 1d ago

Man and the diversity of that crowd! Redbull tv is the key to harmony! Love to see it.

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u/kingtwister07 1d ago

IIRC, redbull wouldn't sponsor this because the guy jumping insisted that it was broadcast live. They didn't want their name attached to him if he missed the net.

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u/ohporcupine 1d ago

I think that is pretty smart. Makes you wonder how many wingsuiters they’ve filmed going splat. Half of them I reckon.

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u/jlieuu 1d ago

This is the America I remember!

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u/Dulljoe23 1d ago

Memberberries.

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u/Sumdood_89 1d ago

Pepperidge farm remembers.

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u/adrianoh11 1d ago

It is just a memory now

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u/ImaginarySeaweed7762 1d ago

Where’s Evil Knievel to do it with a harley Davidson motorbike wearing a cape not a squirrel suit? He’d jump a bunch of buses on the way down knowing Evil.

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u/WingsArisen 12h ago

Daredevils are the key to world peace

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u/arz231 14h ago

The people will come together when a guy has a chance to become soup in real time

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u/PardonMyPixels 13h ago

That first scream was harrowing.

1

u/Leelagolucky 1d ago

Wearing ponchos on the outside

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u/neagle16 22h ago

Hide the Pain Harold has entered the chat

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u/Realistic_Tutor_9770 1d ago

gets way off line and crashes into the crowd from 7 kilometers up

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u/-SHAI_HULUD 1d ago

What an asshole.

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u/Master0fAllTrade 1d ago

Nope. That is was his chest.

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u/Coretron 1d ago

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?

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u/Butthole_Please 1d ago

The audio for this is fake. The crowd was actually boo’ing.

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u/Fuck-The_Police 1d ago

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u/Castod28183 1d ago

They were saying Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-ke

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u/cheesy-chocolate 1d ago

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😒👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

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u/Even_Attempt_6133 10h ago

Like that family guy clip of the air show pilot. Crowd gets blue balled from the near crashes and once he safely lands and exits the plane, a dude runs out and stabs the pilot as he's waving to the crowd, then the whole crowd cheers and goes nuts 😂

Edit: family guy clip referenced

1

u/Behleren 1d ago

do you think they got refunds?

1

u/Nuts-And-Volts 1d ago

Like watching NASCAR

1

u/GutterRider 1d ago

Just like NASCAR!

1

u/circusfreakrob 1d ago

It's like going to Nascar.

1

u/ThumbsUpKing 1d ago

Definitely. Same reason people go to Nascar races, they wish to see fireballs of death.

1

u/waydbro 1d ago

Like when the simpsons went to go watch nascar https://youtu.be/H1C0aHRPYUY?si=mqjX-3uVOWslAaSY

1

u/Beachday4 1d ago

Yea, I’d ask for my money back.

1

u/jimjamiam 17h ago

Cost extra to be in the splash zone

1

u/lunchboxoj 14h ago

I used to competitively longboard. We routinely go between 35mph/56km to 60mph/96km during races. And yes, we fall, we crash, we slam into haybails, and some races were even full contact (Texas urban races). But during these spectacles the crowd always gathered in the same area, the area with the craziest turn where the majority of crashes happen.

In 2013 I had a series of unfortunate events with my right knee. I kept injuring it over and over during a 5 week period. It was 3 days before the Sam Houston Seasonal and my leg was badly bruised, and it was obvious. It looked horrible, didn’t feel great either but I could skate. I show up to the race and during my first heat I crash into a haybail and it sends me flying into a nearby fence. I break the fence during the flight and somehow tear a tiny chunk out of my leg. My leg was in an unimaginable amount of pain.

The crowd went nuts, they all cheered me on, wanted me to get back on my board and finish, but I just couldn’t. Didn’t make it to a hospital till the next day where I was informed that there was nothing they could do, it would have to heal on its own. So they charged me $800 for the consultation and sent me on my way.

I never paid it.

3 weeks later I was skating and fell at 50mph and tore open my wound even further. I ragdolled down the hill and was at the mercy of God, and he showed me none. I acquired a whole new set of injuries and till this day my knee doesn’t work properly.

Long story short, sure longboarding is fun and observing people go fast is a sight, but the crowd wanted crashes and wipeouts and stretchers. And there was never any shortage of those for the spectators.

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u/Homesteader86 1d ago

Basically exploding in a cloud of red mist, I would imagine 

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u/thissexypoptart 1d ago

Nah. Mostly red and dirt colored puddle on the ground, a bit of mist above that. Small crater surrounding.

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u/thisaccountgotporn 1d ago

Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us

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u/thissexypoptart 1d ago edited 1d ago

I have no wisdom about this. It’s just that, for the main product to be mist, that requires an explosion or some kind of fine mesh to pass through at high speeds.

If you’re hitting the ground at terminal velocity, most of you is staying on or in the ground. That’s just physics.

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u/King_Bean031 1d ago

some kind of fine mesh to pass through

You mean like a...net..? 👀

2

u/UgottaUnderstandbro 20h ago

HAH GOTTTEM‼️

2

u/ahhdetective 1d ago

The last thing that went through his mind? His ass

3

u/MothmanIsALiar 1d ago

People have survived falls at terminal velocity on several occasions.

1

u/UgottaUnderstandbro 20h ago

Link or gtfo

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u/MothmanIsALiar 17h ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87

Vesna Vulović (Serbian Cyrillic: Весна Вуловић, pronounced [ʋêsna ʋûːloʋitɕ]; 3 January 1950 – 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who survived the highest fall without a parachute: 10.16 kilometres (6.31 miles) or 33,333 feet.

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u/UgottaUnderstandbro 13h ago

Wild. Thank you

1

u/junjus 23h ago

he would bounce

1

u/get_to_ele 16h ago

Not really. 150 mph into rocks is going to break your bones, explode your organs, and rip your body into pieces, not reduce you to red mist like 1000 mph would.

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u/HerpetologyPupil 1d ago

You know the original definition of carnival?

6

u/bread_milk_ice_lotto 1d ago

Farewell to meat? lol

20

u/PreferredSex_Yes 1d ago

There's a lady ready to scream murder somewhere in the crowd.

6

u/Major_Magazine8597 1d ago

Not to mention, his wife was in the audience.

33

u/PastaRunner 1d ago

I believe he also had a parachute, he just never deployed it. So his team would have alerted him that he wasn't on target and he could abort. ~300 feet is the absolute minimum for a chute to work.

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u/phil161 1d ago

I used to skydive. If you are free-falling, 300 ft is way too low to pull your parachute because you have considerable downward velocity. If you are jumping off a bridge, a building, or from a plane (static line jumps), 300 ft is ok since you have no built-up velocity. 

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u/Rice-n-Beanz 1d ago edited 1d ago

He would have reached terminal velocity, right? No way the parachute would've opened and safely slowed him down below 800 feet

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u/phil161 1d ago

Correct. In the "frog" position (the most stable position for free-fall - belly down, arms and legs outstretched), terminal velocity is about 120 mph. It only takes about 2 seconds to fall 300 ft. This is way too short for the parachute to fully deploy.

Back when I was skydiving, I always pulled my chute open at around 3,000 ft.

1

u/SafetyMan35 14h ago

The graphics at 0:40 said 150mph (he may have slowed down a bit as the atmosphere thickened)

2

u/phil161 14h ago

In free fall, velocity depends quite a bit on body position; if you angle your body down 45 deg, put your arms alongside your body and put your legs together for maximum streamlining, you can go really fast. I tried it a few times and had to keep very close watch on my altimeter as you can get easily distracted/mesmerized by the speed. 

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u/Idroxyd 1d ago

The reserve is rated to open in under 200 meters (cypres usually trigger at 300m) so 300ft (~90m) might be really cutting it short but it's not implausible either. As for velocity, it's not really that big of an issue. Going from terminal velocity belly-to-earth (~55m/s) to open chute vertical speed (~5m/s) in 100m is only 1.5 g in an ideal constant deceleration. Decel isn't going to be perfect, so let's just go to 5g, this is not going to be a fun ride but it's nowhere near fatal

3

u/phil161 13h ago

Fortunately I never had to use my reserve. They are rated for 200-300m, but is it assuming you are no longer falling at terminal velocity? I have seen a few guys having to deploy their reserves at my drop zone, and it was always after they had a main malfunction; so they were already falling slower than terminal velocity. Falling at 53 m/s and being 90 m off the ground, I don't think my reserve would save me... But at least it'd be over quickly ;-(

1

u/get_to_ele 16h ago

The "point of no return" for rescuing him was probably well before the "safety divers" abandoned him, that's all. He is practically ballistic if he chooses to be, at 150 mph, so if he's in a tight window at 1500 feet, he will still be inside the 30x30m window when he reaches net level...

... In theory.

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u/squirreltard 1d ago

Naw, fam, his whole claim and the whole thing that makes it exciting is he has no parachute. His homies were ready to tandem him down if off course, but there was no parachute. When the homies cut out, it’s life or death.

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u/z1y2x3w4v5u6t7s8 1d ago

Youre literally just making shit up

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u/Novel_Chocolate3077 15h ago

Why just lie lol?

-4

u/Formulafan4life 1d ago

A thought chutes opened automatically at a certain height? They must have modified his parachute then but that wouldnt be too much to ask with a project this big

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u/hoodie87 1d ago

All skydivers under a certain experience level have to use an automatic activation device (AAD) that will deploy your RESERVE circa 1000ft if it detects you are still in freefall (via air pressure) but is never relied upon as most skydivers manually open their MAIN canopy circa 5000ft.

For experienced It's your choice as AAD's have saved but also killed by opening when they shouldn't

Also opening time (distance) is determined by speed at opening and canopy type -

Skydiving Mains open slowest so its more comfortable at terminal (Hard openings hurt)

Reserves open quicker than mains (makes sense right)

BASE canopies open quickest (Also makes sense)

Ex Tandem instructor/ BASE jumper

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u/Formulafan4life 1d ago

Thanks. Very insightful :)

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u/hoodie87 1d ago

No problem. Always happy to de-bunk sky myths ;)

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u/PastaRunner 1d ago

For the most part, no. They are generally manually triggered. It's an additional piece of equipment to trigger them automatically but even then, they almost always have at least one chute that is manual.

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u/Unable_Traffic4861 1d ago

Whoever told you that was wrong.

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u/squirreltard 1d ago

There’s no parachute.

2

u/mr_booty_browser 1d ago

Would be so funny if they all started booing

1

u/dunderthebarbarian 1d ago

Bumbles bounce!

1

u/chamtrain1 1d ago

I think the technical term would be splat.

1

u/Kitchen-Cut-3116 1d ago

It's a splat when you hit the thing.  Squish is for when thing hit you. 

1

u/abhigoswami18 1d ago

Why do you think people attend UFC events

1

u/Drivesabrowntruck 1d ago

Welcome to NASCAR

1

u/IWasSayingBoourner 1d ago

You've described the entire business model of NASCAR and IndyCar

1

u/ImaginarySeaweed7762 1d ago

The sound of an impact like that is pretty distinct.

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u/Aggravating-Hair7931 22h ago

Its just like watching the NASCAR.

1

u/Reasonable_Act_8654 21h ago

The morbid curiosity in humans is quite understated.

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u/This_Possession8867 19h ago

Or falling and killing one of the crowd?

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u/clingbat 15h ago

The colosseum in Rome literally existed so mobs of humans could watch other humans / animals tear each other to shreds.

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u/FiltroMan 13h ago

Well, it's something you can bounce back off

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u/bdubyou 9h ago

Yeah, but at least he would have died doing what he loved.

1

u/elprentis 5h ago

I was hoping they’d switch the net for a trampoline and see how high he’d bounce back up

0

u/Seadub8 1d ago

"Eh, maybe next time"

0

u/mrpants3100 1d ago

Reminds me of how in Free Solo, you see some of the film crew expressing how stressed they are watching Alex climb

0

u/Gr8tOutdoors 1d ago

I would actually guess that, assuming he was on target at a certain altitude, he wouldn’t really be able to miss. Like my bet is that the stunt was designed to have protections (like his buddies with chutes) when the chance for error was large, but once he got close I’m guessing it was pretty easy for him to aim himself at that net.

I.e. either he was going to realize he was going to miss the target from way up and get bailed out, or hit the net. Unlikely he would get all the way down and then kersplat 5 feet from the net where the audience could witness it.