Luke
Aikins
United States
·
BASE Jumping
Date of birth | 21 November 1973 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Washington State, USA |
Age | 52 |
Nationality | United States |
Career start | 1985 |
Disciplines | Wingsuit Flying / Outdoor Skydiving / B.A.S.E. Jumping |
“If you're not growing, you’re dying, right?” asks Red Bull Air Force member Luke Aikins. With more than two decades of experience in the air, Luke’s primary aim is always to keep growing his talent and to bring out the talent in others.
To date, he’s logged many thousands of skydives, has excelled in competition, established various world records and is a popular performer in demos all year round. Not only that, but Luke is also respected for his skill in teaching and has a knack for innovation.
Luke made his first solo skydive at the age of 16 and eventually added BASE jumping to his repertoire. A veteran contender in the Pro Swooping Tour, Luke also notched a win at Red Bull Blade Raid in 2008, a radical event that combines flying a canopy with running skis for 60-mile-per-hour descents around mountain obstacles. Since that victory, he’s devoted much of his time to the progression of research and development of equipment and flying techniques.
From proposing and developing new parachute deployment mechanisms to personally participating in test jumps at 28,000ft, Luke has been a go-to consultant for researchers, as his work in the Red Bull Stratos project proves.
In July 2016 he become just the third person to dive from mid-tropospheric altitude and land safely without a parachute or a wingsuit. After about two minutes of freefall from an altitude of 25,000ft (7,620 m), he successfully landed in a 100-by-100ft (30 by 30m) net just outside of Simi Valley, California, reaching a terminal velocity of 120mph (193kph) along the way.
When he's not working on projects, Luke teaches BASE-jumping and skydiving to people from all walks of life, including; NASCAR’s Brian Vickers and military personnel. He’s also a keen aerial photographer, and his work has appeared in major newspapers and magazines worldwide.