LOS ANGELES: A 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000
jumps made history Saturday when he became the first person to leap
without a parachute and land in a net instead.
"Aikins'
leap represents the culmination of a 26-year career that will set a
personal and world record for the highest jump without a parachute or
wing suit," his spokesman Justin Aclin said in an email.
After
a two-minute freefall from 25,000 feet, Luke Aikins landed dead center
in the 100-by-100-foot net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts
of Simi Valley.
As cheers erupted, Aikins quickly
climbed out, walked over and hugged his wife, Monica, who had been
watching from the ground with their 4-year-old son, Logan, and other
family members.
"I'm almost levitating, it's
incredible," the jubilant skydiver said, raising his hands over his head
as his wife held their son, who dozed in her arms.
"This
thing just happened! I can't even get the words out of my mouth," he
added as he thanked the dozens of crew members who spent two years
helping him prepare for the jump, including those who assembled the
fishing trawler-like net and made sure it really worked.
Aikins jumped with three other skydivers, each wearing parachutes.
One
had a camera, another trailed smoke so people on the ground could
follow his descent and the third took an oxygen canister he handed off
after they got to an altitude where it was no longer needed.
Then the others opened their parachutes and left him on his own.
Aikins admitted before the jump he was nervous and his mother said she was one family member who wouldn't watch.
When his friend Chris Talley came up with the idea two years ago, Aikins acknowledged he turned it down cold.
"I
kind of laugh and I say, 'Ok, that's great. I'll help you find somebody
to do it'," he told The Associated Press as he trained for the jump
last week.
A couple of weeks after Talley made his proposal Aikins called back and said he would do it.
He'd
been the backup jumper in 2012 when Felix Baumgartner became the first
skydiver to break the speed of sound during a jump from 24 miles above
Earth.
The stunt, broadcast live on the Fox network
for the TV special "Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent", nearly didn't come
off as planned when Aikins revealed just before climbing into his plane
that the Screen Actors Guild had ordered him to wear a parachute to
ensure his safety.
Aikins didn't say what prompted
the original restriction, and representatives for the show and the
Screen Actors Guild did not immediately respond to phone and email
messages.
Aikins said he considered pulling out at that
point because having the parachute canister on his back would make his
landing in the net far more dangerous. If he had to wear it he said he
wouldn't bother to pull the ripcord anyway.
"I'm going
all the way to the net, no question about it," he said from the plane.
"I'll just have to deal with the consequences when I land of wearing the
parachute on my back and what it's going to do to my body."
A
few minutes before the jump, one of the show's hosts said the
requirement had been lifted and Aikins left the plane without the chute.
The 42-year-old daredevil made his first tandem jump when he was 12, following with his first solo leap four years later.
He's
been racking them up at several hundred a year ever since. His father
and grandfather were skydivers, and his wife has made 2,000 jumps. His
family owns Skydive Kapowsin near Tacoma, Washington.
Aikins
is also a safety and training adviser for the United States Parachute
Association and is certified to teach both students and skydiving
instructors.
His business Para Tactics provides skydiving training to Navy Seals and other members of elite fighting forces.
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