I had the absolute privilege of being the Aerial Coordinator for this incredible Red Bull project, working closely with Ally Milne and the world-renowned Austrian Red Bull Skydiving Team.
Together, with the rest of the Red Bull team we pushed the boundaries of what’s possible and achieved something truly extraordinary.
Two helicopters were supplied by GB Helicopters for this project, ensuring that every detail was meticulously planned and executed. Will Banks captured every moment of this jaw-dropping feat on film, while the Ian Smith who was the drop pilot made sure the jumpers were on target for a perfect exit in class A airspace.
The jump was bang on time and on target at 05.25 am on the 12th July 2024
Marco Furst and Marco Waltenspiel, the wing suit pilots, were supported by Peter Salzmann and Max Manow to complete the Red Bull Skydive team.
Getting permission was not easy, lots of meetings and lots of paperwork.
From the skydiving perspective the CAA approved our operations manual, SOPs and risk assessment so they could publish a special parachute permission.
Then the air space regulator had a meeting with eight Air Traffic Controllers to write an ATC procedure to allow us into class A airspace.
Then AROps approved and published our NOTAM with NATS followed by NFS applications for the helicopters and drones.
Finally the police approved the use of the “no fly zone area” for the parachute team and the 2 drone teams
Thames water authorities then agreed to close down the river traffic and Tower Bridge agreed to close the bridge to traffic and pedestrians.
And that’s just a fraction of what we had to do.
The risk assessments from water safety, the medics and every department totalled over 40 and I had to read them all 😂
A massive team effort and we had amazing support from everyone in and around London but without the Red Bull athlete managers it would never have happened.
Almost 200 very professional people were dedicated to making this wild idea happen.
