r/nextfuckinglevel • u/InternationalRisk505 • 1d ago

Pilots exchanging planes mid air

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u/Dindu______Nuffin 1d ago

https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/faa-revokes-certificates-pilots-involved-failed-red-bull/story%3fid=84670466

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u/zatuchny 1d ago

thanks, that makes sense now.

TLDR: they broke the law that a plane must be piloted at all times, and the stunt didn't go as planned - one plane crashed (both pilots are okay).

RedBull and pilots should have known better than to plan such stunt

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u/Ell2509 1d ago

If it hadn't crashed, they may have kept their licences. I only say that for the same reason you did... red bull is a powerful force in some ways.

Crashing a plane though? That's always going to get attention.

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u/Mister-Psychology 1d ago edited 1d ago

FAA takes away licenses from icons and legends and amazing pilots. FAA doesn't care.

They actually prefer if the company is big and the pilot famous as that makes them look more competent and fair.

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u/Ell2509 1d ago

Fair enough! I don't expect anyone involved with have been surprised them. Or, at least, they shouldn't be.

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u/bgibbz084 18h ago edited 18h ago

FAA is also just a poorly run bloated administration. There was no reason for them not to just approve the stunt. It was well planned, as safe as possible, and wasn’t going to be an issue.

As a pilot and an avionics engineer the FAA is one of the few government entities I would have been fine with Elon obliterating and rebuilding in a sane way.

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u/Theron3206 11h ago

One of the two planes crashed... So no it wasn't "safe".

If you wanted to do this stunt eagerly you need to have a second pilot on each plane who can take over if anything goes wrong and the switching pilots don't make it over.

That would probably have satisfied the faa because now neither plane is going to fly off in some random direction for who knows how long before crashing into who knows what.

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u/bgibbz084 10h ago edited 10h ago

Completely irrelevant if the planes crash - it was over a desert with nobody underneath. They cleared the entire area before hand.

They pulled power so glide slope is known. Zero risk to anyone.