However, as the plane was climbing to 25 000 feet above the drop zone, he took off the chute.
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High above the California desert, skydiver Luke Aikins stepped out of a plane, with no parachute.
Shortly after landing, Mr Aikins was lowered to the ground, immediately rising to his feet and rushing to hug his wife Monica.
A skydiver who jumped from an airplane without using a parachute or wingsuit became the first person to land that way safely.
“This thing just happened!”
The divers left the plane together, one of them did not have a parachute.
He 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 risky. “It’s the last step that I see”, he said in an interview with a local Fox station in Washington state, where he lives.
Forty-two-year-old Luke Aikins has more than 18,000 dives under his belt, and made a decision to take the stunt to the next level. I was clean and I was gonna land on my back.
Viewers watched as Aikins jumped with a crew of three other skydivers (who were wearing parachutes).
Later on Saturday, Aikins thanked his supporters for helping him complete the successful jump with a series of photos shared on his Facebook page.
Aikins wrote on his Facebook page, “We did and can not thank everyone enough for the support”. With the stunt being shown on national television, Screen Actors Guild intervened, insisting that Luke wears a parachute in accordance with its requirements.
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He also provides skydiving training to US Navy Seals and other members of elite fighting forces.
