“He's made 18,000 parachute jumps, helped train some of the world's most elite skydivers, done some of the stunts for “Ironman 3”. But the plunge Luke Aikins knows he'll be remembered for is the one he's making without a parachute. Or a wingsuit. Or anything, really, other than the clothes he'll be wearing when he jumps out of an airplane at 25,000 feet this weekend, attempting to become the first person to land safely on the ground in a net. The Fox network will broadcast the two-minute jump live at 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT) Saturday as part of an hour-long TV special called “Heaven Sent”. And, no, you don't have to tell Aikins it sounds crazy. He knows that. After all, the 42-year-old daredevil has practically lived his life in the sky. He made his first tandem jump when he was 12, following with his first solo leap four years later. He's been racking them up at about 800 a year ever since. Over the years Aikins has taught skydiving, taught others to teach skydiving, even participated in world-record stacking events, those exercises where skydivers line up atop one another as they fly their open chutes across the sky. He tells of having his chute tangle with others on a couple of those efforts and having to come down under his reserve parachute. In all, he's used his reserve 30 times, not a bad number for 18,000 jumps. This time, though, he won't have any parachute. Nearby, a pair of huge cranes defines the boundaries where the net in which Aikins expects to land is being erected. It will be about one-third the size of a football field and 20 stories high, providing enough space to cushion his fall, he says, without allowing him to bounce out of it. The landing target, which has been described as similar to a fishing trawler net, has been tested repeatedly using dummies. The drop zone, surrounded by rolling hills, presents some challenges, Aikins said, noting he'll be constantly fighting shifting winds as he falls 120 mph (193 kph). Other skydivers have jumped from planes without parachutes and had someone hand them one in midair. But Aikins won't even have that”. – John Rogers via The Associated Press



In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins smiles as he 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. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins jumps from a helicopter during his training in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, cranes stand on the ground as production crew members set up a net about one-third the size of a football field and 20 stories high ahead of skydiver Luke Aikins' landing attempt without a parachute or wing suit in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins, center, descends on a parachute as production crew members set up a net about one-third the size of a football field and 20 stories high on the ground in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins signals to pilot Aaron Fitzgerald as he prepares to jump from a helicopter in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins walks to a helicopter during his training in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, skydiver Luke Aikins prepares his parachute during his training in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)





In this Monday, July 25, 2016 photo, a production crew member looks up the sky to spot skydiver Luke Aikins as Aikins prepares for his skydiving attempt with a parachute in Simi Valley, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)