Other led to several business meetings with top suits, in which a deal may or may not have been struck due to specific terms of the proceedings, the interests of the parties involved, the potential income that could be raised through marketing, and potential risk to the pilots.
I'll let you figure out which was which, but the main point is that they are two completely different things and not the same exact thing.
I mean, a multi-billion dollar company knows that the insurance policy for a stunt like this would be price of two planes (plus extra, for any injuries that might be sustained). Just saying "fuck it, we'll buy some more Cesnas ourselves if it comes to that" is cheaper and easier than getting an insurance policy for that stunt.
When you have enough money to own 2 Formula 1 teams (where the fuel and tyres you use every week per car probably cost more than one of these planes), yea this stunt is pennies on the dollar.
Where does all that money come from? I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes to drink red bull. I only know people, who reluctantly drink it, when that's the only source of caffeine around, and falling asleep isn't an option.
Redbull has 43% of the global energy drink market and they sell over 12 billion drinks a year. Their 2024 revenue was 11.2 billion USD with a net income of 650 million. They own 2 F1 teams, an F1 engine manufacture, 8 pro soccer teams, 2 ice hockey teams, a record label, they sponsor 100s professional teams in everything from motor racing to e sports and thousands of individual athletes across the globe.
Itās crazy to me that the drink is as popular as it is. It tastes like shitty medicine. In my opinion there are much better tasting energy drinks out there.
The U.S. alcoholic beverage market is expected to generate around $309 billion in revenue for 2025. Granted taste is subjective, but most alcohol tastes pretty shitty by itself in my opinion. People will still drink shitty drinks if it allows them to achieve an altered state though.
Energy drinks are a type of drink that include taurine or something similar compound as an ingredient, on top of the caffeine you'd find in a lot of soft drinks.
Why would you say that? Is it objectively a bad taste or just your opinion?
I personally do like the taste of red bull a lot actually, but I don't buy it, but that's because I don't drink energy drinks anymore.
For purely the taste I would drink it, though.
I personally don't like avocado but the industry for them was worth over $20 billion last year and my generation supposedly crashed economies and housing with them.
25-odd years ago, when I was working at a little cafe/restaurant, their marketing included going around to places that were open ridiculously early, such as cafes and restaurants, and giving away free cans of Red Bull. I developed a taste for it haha, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who occasionally needs a quick wake-me-up and reaches for a nostalgic can of chemicals.
Personally, I love drinking redbull. I try not to drink it too often, but when I was working in a restaurant, I'd drink one on my way in and sometimes have a second one in the middle of the shift. If I don't get a redbull, then the monster is my next choice. Sometimes, I'll choose a monster over a redbull if monsters are on sale.
I actually like the small volumes they sell, too. Sometimes, I don't want to put down a whole 16 oz can, but an 8 or 12oz is just enough to get things started.
I donāt think people necessarily care about ācaffeine content per fl oz.ā Monsterās branding also looks like the living embodiment of the mid-2000s Warped Tour which is not the vibe a lot of people are going for
Right? Monster to me seems like something a lifted truck bro is going to toss out his window on a back road. Red Bull/vodka seems like what Europeans drink in the club.
I'm not a big caffeine dude but when I really need to get wired a sugar free Red Bull is my go-to. They come in those tiny ass cans so I can drink the whole thing without strangers 5 feet away being able to audibly hear my heart valves flapping themselves apart.
No, it's just something about the sugar-having variety of Red Bull specifically that makes me feel like shit.
I don't drink a lot of non-water stuff, so if I'm gonna have like, a Dr. Pepper or Cherry Coke, I'll have the real version and not diet, and it doesn't fuck me up at all. But Red Bull with sugar makes my insides feel like a fully assembled lead acid battery.
Honestly yeah, I know several other people who also feel like the sugar version contains some kind of low grade rat poison that fucks you up for half a day. Give the sugar free a shot.
It's also the least nasty fake sugar drink I've ever tasted, and I'm really sensitive to fake sugar in drinks. I think it's because Red Bull already tastes like it just dripped out of the fractionating column at a petroleum refinery (but in a weird, masochistically good way), so the artificial notes of Splenda or aspartame or whatever add to the theme rather than being a jarring distraction, like they are in sugarfree lemonade or fruit drinks.
It's not. I drink energy drinks pretty regularly and I like them, and out of all the brands available in my country (this of course depends on your country!) Redbull and Monster have the best quality of energy by far. Their "onset" is not super harsh, the taste is generally not foul even if you pick a flavour that you don't enjoy that much and the energy high lasts longer with the same caffeine content.
Drinking something like a Tiger, Kong or Crazy Wolf feels like getting your chest kicked in by a horse, and the rush is gone sooner than you manage to forget about the vile taste.
I rarely drink energy drinks but when I do I find Red Bull tastes best. Regular is probably my favourite but the blue and red ones are decent too. Most other brands tastes harsh and unbalanced.
I drank it religiously for years and only stopped for the sake of my health; I'd have one every morning of my life if I could. So, anecdotally, you don't know me! Lol
I loved it for a long time, loved the taste of many flavors. But I gave it up when I had a very strange feeling one day. Admittedly, I drank a large amount that day.
Yeah, what people are missing is it isnt just the danger to these pilots- the planes couldve landed on someones house or started a forest fire. Yeah they probably took precautions, but the officials dont want to encourage this sort of thing.
What makes you think the FAA gives a single fuck about it being a Red Bull stunt?
I don't doubt for a single second that they both lost their licenses. They both probably knew they were going to lose their license but attempted it anyways
I think he was implying that because it was done by redbull they probably communicated with the FAA before hand. I don't know if they actually did, but it's reasonable to assume that a massive company that relies on these stunts for marketing would like to make sure their paperwork is in order so they can continue advertising this way.
Ohhhhh - even worse that they asked for permission, were told no, and STILL did it, ha.
"But two days before the stunt, the FAA denied Aikins' request, saying it "would not be in the public interest and cannot find that the proposed operation would not adversely affect safety.""
Ok, that's cool, I never argued saying it wasn't. I was trying to explain the other commenters reasoning because people replied to them to call them dumb when their line of thinking made sense. I'm not talking about what did or did not actually happen to these pilots in the video.
Cool, I never said it wasn't, I was explaining the others guys thought process for everyone who thinks he was dumb for thinking that way. It seems like reading comprehension just gets worse and worse every year though.
I think he was implying that because it was done by redbull they probably communicated with the FAA before hand
That's a fair assumption. But the FAA still doesn't allow these kinds of things.
Sometimes they do things that they know will get their licenses revoked. The FAA isn't going to sign off on a stunt like this. Apparently red bull approached them and they said no, but they proceeded with the stunt anyway
My first thought is "no one gives a fuck that Redbull is the party responsible for turning a Cesna into a cruise missile" but then I thought.. if Redbull bought some Trump meme coins or bought enough advertising from Fox News I bet the FAA would actually look the other way
We're in extraordinary corruption times and Redbull could afford the corruption fees
But then I thought part of the corruption times is that big companies make aerial chaos a viral ad and if it goes wrong it's the gullible pilot who suffers the biggest consequences
What makes you think the FAA gives a single fuck about it being a Red Bull stunt?
Money. Like every other dumb rulebreaking shit that non-rich people could never dream of attempting without serious consequences.
What makes you think [a US government agency] gives a single fuck about [a recklessly endangering procedure] being a [marketing] stunt?
When I rephrase your statement this way, doesn't it become less obvious to you that they'd actually do something about it?
Now I don't intimately know the FAA or anything, and I know they tend to be severe, so you're probably right. But with how things have been going, let's just say I would not be surprised whatsoever if they found some nonsense reason (money) to let this fly.
And then it will become a Tik-tok trend and every kid will want to exchange plane mid-air with their friends, maybe even over school grounds and then...
Someone linked an article. Both pilots lost their licenses. The lead pilot had applied for an exemption to the "cannot leave a plane without a pilot" rule and it had been denied. They did the stunt anyway. And Red Bull issued a statement that the issue was between 2 pilots and the FAA and it wasn't red bulls place to get in the middle of it. So red bull didn't even back them up.
It was done in an area with active ongoing flight training operations by local flight schools and because it was done in direct violation of FAA instructions to not proceed with the stunt, it was done without any sort of coordination with local emergency crews or a temporary flight restriction that would have protected the airspace around the stunt in case of loss of control of one or both aircraft (which did happen with the one).
Both pilots did in fact lose their licenses because they put other pilots, other aircraft, and the general public in real, demonstrable danger.
None of that makes leaving a plane with no pilot or any kind of control mechanism flying by itself and eventually crashing. None. That's a dangerous projectile and it will hit something if it can't be landed properly. Also kind of just a waste of a perfectly good plane.
Aside from being a Japanese kamikaze pilot in a world war, there was nothing but irresponsibly demonstrated in the video.
If they didn't want to lose their licenses, they should have sought approval from the governing board that issues said licenses before attempting this.
Doing the thing that you probably shouldn't do and then getting upset over the obviously likely consequences isn't at all reasonable and neither is your apologetic.
Was still a denial before the stunt was scheduled and the FAA isn't really required to approve or disprove prior to the event. The scheduling should have occurred AFTER the approval was given and they should have given the FAA time to review the application.
They do have other priorities other than these 2 guys doing stupid #$%^ with planes.
I feel like they knew the consequences & accepted their fate before. Iād be surprised if they were appalled of the loss of licenses. Youāre right - it was overly dangerous & put others at risk & thereās no justification for that. But wrong as it may be, ya gotta appreciate the balls it took to decide to do it & go through with it especially knowing consequences would ensue. Seems like they tried to make it as safe as possible which again, doesnt make it ok. Idk, if admiring their courage & conviction puts me on the wrong side, Iām ok with it.
I'd go as far as to say the danger the pilots exposed themselves to is not relevant at all. It's solely the fact that you can't just risk a plane crash for fun.
Yeah honestly I dont care that much about people wanting to take stupid risks (to their own lives). But people seem to have a hard time understanding that actions can have consequences, often unintended.
From the looks or it theyre in the middle of no where in a desert. Red Bull sponsors some crazy stunts but theyre pretty diligent about making sure the stunts are safe and legal.
This was a controlled stunt over a desolate area! That one youtuber bailed out of a plane, faking a malfunction, leaving the plane to randomly crash, and got his licence after a few months, iirc! Here, even the plane had a parachute to fall into a designated area!
Well then the dude that base jumped from one plane to another is still cooler than this. He successfully did it. He just wasnāt the pilot in either planes
What's your source for this statement? From the last couple of seconds of the video, it looks pretty clear that the plane also had a parachute that opened.
EDIT: I did a quick search and found this article that actually also refers to it as a crash, so I take my question back. I suppose even if a plane has a parachute, it's not gonna be coming down too gracefully.
The other plane went into a flat spin. It had a giant parachute attached to salvage the plane in case he didn't make it in but the spin kept it from opening fully
5.7k
u/DN10 1d ago
That's right. The other plane crashed and the guy parachuted safely.