Quote:

I am glad I saw that or I would not of believed it.

History:

In a team of insanely talented, but also just plain insane Red Bull Air Force athletes, Andy Farrington may be the craziest of all. “When there’s a potentially sketchy jump and some of the other guys are trying to figure out whether it’s worth a try, I’ll definitely give ‘er a go,” the 29-year-old says. “Of course,” he smiles, “I try to make it look easy, too.”

Andy has completed more than 14,000 skydives and 200 B.A.S.E. jumps. Along the way, he has climbed to the top of multiple podiums, including wins on the Pro Swooping Tour, victory at the Red Bull Championships in 2003 (the year when he was also runner-up at the World Championships of Drag Boat Racing), and first place in accuracy and second place overall at the canopy piloting World Championships. He also holds a world record as part of the planet’s largest-ever freefall formation (283 people). Andy’s specialty is canopy piloting, or swooping, at high speed in tight places, which is what inspired him to develop the Red Bull Blade Raid competition with fellow RBAF member Jon DeVore.

Although an envelope-buster in the air, on the ground Andy is as laid back as they come. Perhaps the athlete’s easy nature comes from the knowledge that he’s already conquered one of the worst hands life can deal: cancer. Born into a skydiving family (his grandfather founded Washington’s Kapowsin Air Sports, and his cousin Luke Aikins is a fellow RBAF member), Andy was diagnosed with kidney cancer at two years of age. “I had one kidney removed, and all through school my doctor wouldn’t let me play football or other mainstream sports,” he sighs, shaking his head. “But fortunately, my family didn’t see any problem with skydiving!” Andy made his first tandem jump at age 12 and went solo at 16. By age 22, he’d added B.A.S.E. jumping to his repertoire, and in recent years, he’s been all about developing the Red Bull Blade Raid, which fuses skiing with the speed of skydiving and paragliding on a vertical course that skis alone wouldn’t be able to handle. Andy’s current projects include planning more contests, performing in RBAF demos, and shooting airborne scenes for the upcoming movie “Human Flight 3D.” “Someday I’d like to try ski-B.A.S.E.-ing, a ski run that launches into a full-flight B.A.S.E. jump,” Andy comments. With a shrug, he states, “Hey, I’ve only got one kidney, but what else am I going to do – shut myself in a padded cell?”