Skip to main content
Monday, November 9, 2026Nov 9
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

A look at some of the most death-defying stunts of all time

In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins jumps from a helicopter during his training in Simi Valley, Calif. After months of training, this elite skydiver says he's ready to leave his chute in the plane when he bails out 25,000 feet above Simi Valley on Saturday. That's right, no parachute, no wingsuit and no fellow skydiver with an extra one to hand him in mid-air. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins jumps from a helicopter during his training in Simi Valley, Calif. After months of training, this elite skydiver says he's ready to leave his chute in the plane when he bails out 25,000 feet above Simi Valley on Saturday. That's right, no parachute, no wingsuit and no fellow skydiver with an extra one to hand him in mid-air. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins jumps from a helicopter during his training in Simi Valley, Calif. After months of training, this elite skydiver says he's ready to leave his chute in the plane when he bails out 25,000 feet above Simi Valley on Saturday. That's right, no parachute, no wingsuit and no fellow skydiver with an extra one to hand him in mid-air. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

By Associated Press 4 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Although he’s one of the most accomplished skydivers in the world, Luke Aikins will tell you what he’s about to do – jump out of a plane without a parachute – is one crazy stunt.

“If I wasn’t nervous I would be stupid,” Aikins, who has jumped 18,000 times with a parachute, said recently as he prepared to jump from 25,000 feet without one. He plans to land in a giant net for a program being broadcast live Saturday on Fox.

Crazy perhaps, but only the latest in a long line of outrageous endeavors. Here are 10 of the craziest and most dangerous.

– Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon Jump: After years of jumping motorcycles over buses, trucks and fountains, and breaking many of his bones, Knievel decided to ride a rocket-powered motorcycle across a mile-wide chasm in Utah’s Snake River Canyon on Sept. 8, 1974. He didn’t make it, his cycle crashing on the canyon floor below. His escape chute deployed prematurely, likely saving his life.

– Felix Baumgartner’s Stratosphere Jump: The Austrian daredevil became the first skydiver to break the speed of sound when he jumped from a small capsule 24 miles above Earth on Oct. 14, 2012, and landed safely on the ground near Roswell, New Mexico, nine minutes later. Aikins helped train Baumgartner for that stunt and was the backup jumper.