Reportedly, the only drama ahead of this stunt occurred when Aikins was ordered to wear a parachute on the jump (that order was later rescinded) and when SAG-AFTRA objected to the special over safety concerns.
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Aikins landed in a 100-by-100-foot net that was set up several stories above the ground in Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley.
According to Independent UK, Aikins was accompanied by three other skydivers who had parachutes – one collected the oxygen mask he discarded, another had a smoke canister to make them visible to those on the ground, while a third jumper was filming.
“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 was almost stopped by the Screen Actors Guild, which apparently as a professional stuntman he’s a part of, just before the attempt as they weren’t going to allow him to leave the plane without a chute.
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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 unsafe.
“I’m nearly levitating, it’s incredible”, said the father-of-one, “The thing that just happened”.
“I’m going all the way to the net, no question about it”, he said from the plane. Aikins indicated he would not open the chute and as the plane climbed 25,000 feet into the air, he was told the requirement had been dropped.
“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.
He later handed the mask to one of the other jumpers in mid-air. His family owns Skydive Kapowsin near Tacoma, Washington.
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He also provides skydiving training to elite military forces and the famed U.S. Navy Seals.
