The Latest: Skydiver must wear chute but aims not to use it
LOS ANGELES (AP) The Latest on a skydiver's attempt to jump 25,000 feet into a net (all times local):
6:10 p.m.
Skydiver Luke Aikins has become the first person to jump from a plane into a net on the ground without the benefit of a parachute.
Aikins hit the 100-by-100-foot net perfectly, quickly climbed out of it and walked over to hug his wife, who had been watching with other family members.
Just before climbing into a plane to make the jump, Aikins said he had been ordered to wear a parachute but indicated he wouldn't open it.
As the plane was climbing to 25,000 feet above the drop zone he said the requirement had been lifted and he took off the chute.
He fell for about two minutes, then flipped onto his back at the last second and landed perfectly to cheers from those gathered to watch.
---
5:45 p.m.
Skydiver Luke Aikins says he learned just hours before his planned attempt to skydive from a plane into a net on the ground that he'd have to wear a parachute in order to do it.
He says he put it on but hinted strongly that he wouldn't open it.
In a live broadcast from the plane he'll jump from Aikins says wearing a parachute will make the jump more dangerous because he'll have its canister on his back when he hits the net at about 120 mph.
Aikins says he heard from the Screen Actors Guild that the jump couldn't go on unless he wore a parachute.
The jump is being broadcast live on the Fox network.
---
5:30 p.m.
Skydiver Luke Aikins says he'll be wearing a parachute when he tries to become the first person to land in a net without using one.
Aikins revealed about an hour before his scheduled jump Saturday in Simi Valley, California, that the Screen Actors Guild told him the jump can't be done unless he wears a parachute.
He didn't elaborate but the jump is being broadcast on Fox television as part of a one-hour TV special.
Aikins says he is disappointed because wearing a chute will actually make it harder for him to properly put himself over the 100-foot-by-100-foot net.
He didn't say if he plans to actually open the parachute at any point.
---
7 a.m.
Skydiver Luke Aikins figures his next leap into thin air will start pretty much like the thousands that preceded it, only with one small but significant difference.
This time when he steps out of a plane at 25,000 feet he won't take his parachute with him.
If all goes according to plan, he will land two minutes later in a trawler-like fishing net 20 stories above the ground and about a third the size of a football field.
His jump is being broadcast live on Fox TV at 8 p.m. EDT Saturday.
The 42-year-old daredevil has made 18,000 jumps.
He's done stunts for ''Ironman 3'' and other movies and trained elite skydivers.
But on Saturday he'll become the first skydiver to go from plane to planet Earth without a parachute.
