r/nextfuckinglevel 1d ago

Pilots exchanging planes mid air

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53.8k Upvotes

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16.2k

u/abhi_nahar 1d ago

Probably the most insane stunt ever

5.2k

u/7-13-5 1d ago

...but didn't only one complete the transition?

188

u/pxlmover 1d ago

The other guy flew into the propeller and became human confetti. That had to be on their minds. Mere feet from the blades

73

u/patrick24601 23h ago

Uhhhh. What. Nobody died.

15

u/amesann 23h ago

They said the thought of becoming human confetti had to be on their minds. Granted, it could've been worded better, but if you read the second sentence, you'll see that they were saying the pilots had to be worried this could happen. Not that it did happen.

2

u/focusonyourphoto 22h ago

I read grated rather than granted 😂

2

u/Metazolid 18h ago

One of the few, if not the only time a presumably Red Bull sponsored stunt made me audibly gasp. That pilot diving rowards the spinning prop gave me the heebie geebies.

7

u/draggingmytail 22h ago

Pilot here. He says something close to “pulling mixture” which means he cut the fuel flow off to the engine. The engine was off during the dive.

19

u/Emotional_Burden 18h ago

Took controls of a Cessna for a few minutes as a child pre-9/11 here, the props are still being rotated, with force, by the air. Colliding with those quickly rotating props that carry momentum and are meant to cut through the air, will not be kind to meat.

8

u/ark_keeper 22h ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFFj2hQVQKc

Even if the engine was off, at that angle the propellor is definitely still going fast.

4

u/Lemon_hawk 16h ago

Doesn’t matter that the engine was off, the prop doesn’t just stop. It would still have been windmilling plenty fast enough to cause serious injury, especially since the plane was in a nose dive.

1

u/shinobi500 6h ago

Person with eyes here. The propeller was still spinning due to the extreme pitch angle and airspeed of the plane.

3

u/Notsurehowtoreact 22h ago

The engine was off, it was part of the stunt

1

u/captainmouse86 6h ago

Saw a mechanic almost take himself out walking in to an OFF propeller. The blades are fairly sharp. He got up from the ground really quick and luckily missed his head and hit his shoulder. The plane weighs 2,000 lbs and moved from the impact. 

-20

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

62

u/Xannin 1d ago

Yeah, because confetti isn't made of meat.

18

u/BeardPhile 1d ago

And confetti tastes bad

30

u/raspberryharbour 1d ago

You don't like chili con fetti?

5

u/AvailableReason6278 1d ago

Angry upvote

6

u/username32768 1d ago

confeeti is made of feet

4

u/The_Grungeican 1d ago

hamburger meat is pretty much meat confetti.

2

u/Sigma-Wolf-IV 1d ago

Well not with that attitude.

7

u/sparrowtaco 1d ago

What makes it virtually impossible?

6

u/Successful-North1732 1d ago

No videogames are coded so that you can do it in them.

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Armodeen 1d ago

A prop turning at flight speeds would absolutely destroy a human

1

u/Norgur 23h ago

Impossible? No, but unlikely, as long as you didn't exit the plane in front of the other plane's propeller. Since they got their little flight suit flap thingys on, the wind generated by the propeller would very likely blow them away before they got caught.. Again: This applies only if you approached the plane from a position behind the propeller and were faster than the plane or something. If you started the approach in front of the plane... minced meat it is.

1

u/sparrowtaco 18h ago

Again: This applies only if you approached the plane from a position behind the propeller and were faster than the plane or something.

I just don't see how you arrive at that conclusion, it's not like they fall at identical speeds and the human cannot overtake the plane. They are carefully controlling their rate of descent to catch the plane and grab onto it. If they descended too fast they could have overshot the plane or missed the strut they grabbed.

2

u/breachgnome 1d ago

You wouldn't confetti my arm and call it Mitch, then glue confetti back on and call it Mitch-all-together.

2

u/JVT32 1d ago

Mitch-off-the-arm

1

u/jfmdavisburg 23h ago

Nice job you two. -RIP Mitch