Skydiver Hooks Plane in Mid-Air, Gets Towed Up For Another Skydive

"Can you skydive continuously without landing...?" asks Red Bull. Imagine jumping out of a helicopter, "only to latch onto a speeding plane in mid-air and soar back up into the sky." Harnessing the plane's momentum, [skydiver Max Manow] soared out of the canyon, embarking on what he calls his "endless skydive", a manoeuvre that potentially could be done continuously without him ever needing to land...

After exiting a helicopter, he manoeuvred his wingsuit to close the gap with a nosediving Cessna 182, piloted by Luke Aikins. Precision was key: Manow attached himself to a hook on the aircraft as the plane descended, allowing him to ascend back to a safe altitude of 2,500 feet before releasing into another freefall... Manow spent five months training, including sessions in a Stockholm wind tunnel, to master the techniques needed for mid-air connection. Meanwhile, Aikins modified his aircraft to ensure the feat was safe and repeatable.

Skydiver Max Manow's goal was to develop a manoeuvre that could potentially be repeated an infinite number of times without ever having to land. Manow's mid-air manoeuvre opens the door to a new vision of skydiving, where athletes could remain airborne without ever needing to land. Reflecting on the experience, Manow said: "Who knows where this will take the future of the sport?"
"If that wasn't enough adrenaline for you," writes New Atlas, "a previous bonkers wingsuit stunt from 2017 is equally jaw dropping, in which a pair of skydivers BASE-jumped off a mountain summit, and entered a passing airplane."

James Bond beat them to it

[LindleyF]

Goldeneye, I think? Still cool though.

Re:

[stephanruby]

You're thinking too small.

If we can do this with a plane, we can do this with a continuous giant ski lift (or a sky lift).

Re:

[thegarbz]

No, not cool at all. Do you have any idea of the carbon footprint this idiot would have if he starred looping his skydives in this? It's deplorable.

Quite probably a lower carbon footprint than having a plane take off and land constantly between dives.

Re:

[BeaverCleaver]

Goldeneye, I think?

It's not really the same thing, but I'm getting a vibe from Licence to Kill. First when Bond dangles from a cable attached to a helicopter to catch a feeling plane, then attaches the cable around the plane's tail to capture it.

Later in the movie, he shoots the float of a seaplane with his spear gun, then waterskis behind the plane and climbs aboard to hijack it.

12 year old me thought those were about the coolest movie stunts ever.

Re: James Bond beat them to it

[LindleyF]

Timothy Dalton was such a great Bond. Deserved more movies.

Sugar water stories

[ratbag]

Cool, massive increase in adverts around the stories, breaking the site for a while, might as well make the "stories" into ads for tooth rot.

Re:

[EditorDavid]

Slashdot has always historically covered "extreme skydiving" news. (Check out the Related Links!)

I remember that James Bond skydiving scene. I think he and "Jaws" and end up fighting for a parachute...

Red Bull

[rsBS35$-ax]

has been embarrassing since felix baumgartner's "record" jump.

I'm jaded

[kmoser]

Wake me up when he can drop out of a helicopter and be picked up by another helicopter.

Re: I'm jaded

[flyingfsck]

Hmm, I can think of at least two reasons why that may be a little tricky, but sooner or kater someone will do just that.

If they perfect the art

[Tablizer]

...then relatively inexpensive drones could drag customers back up to do it over and over.

Or attach a propeller to your ass.

Re: Why? What a waste of money.

[zawarski]

Chicks dig it. Duh.

Re:

[Kernel Kurtz]

Red Bull is one of if not the largest corporate sponsors of motorsports. If they race it, Red Bull probably sponsors a team. From Formula One to sports cars, rally cars, off-road, motorcycles, boats, snowmobiles, Red Bull's logo is often found on front running teams vehicles. So airplanes and helicopters, why not?

I have no idea what the ROI is, but motorsports is certainly lucky to have them. And yeah, grudging props to Oracle on that front too.

https://www.redbullracing.com/... [redbullracing.com]

Re:

[test321]

Same as Coca-Cola is world known brand and in principle doesn't need advertising, yet spend 4 billion dollars a year in advertising (according to https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com] ). Red Bull is the third most valuable soft drink brand after Coca Cola and Pepsi (according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] ), they can afford a number of millions per year. Coca Cola spends millions on each ad campaign, and they need to fund those millions in a number of countries worldwide. Red Bull does not spend money th

Whatever it takes to sell liquid heart attack

[Slashythenkilly]

Compared to the proximity flying videos coming out of Norway 15 years ago, this really isnt that impressive especially considering the lack of sponsorship dollars going into them. We have also already seen experienced skydivers jumping out without chutes only to catch them midair or dive into other planes soooo... whatever Redbull.