They will jump and change planes mid-flight 0:28
(CNN) --
The live-streamed mid-air stunt that ended in a plane crash in the Arizona desert is under federal investigation after organizers apparently defied a government order.
Event organizers said two pilots in separate planes planned to parachute to switch planes mid-air, leaving each plane pilotless for less than a minute.
But one of the pilots failed to catch up with the other plane.
That plane "crashed after losing control" and its would-be pilot "landed safely by parachute," the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The FAA said both pilots survived the botched swap that involved two single-engine Cessna 182 planes that flew more than 2.5 miles (4 km) high and then nosedived in close formation.
Organizers applied to the FAA for special permission to hold the event, which was sponsored by energy drink company Red Bull and broadcast on streaming service Hulu.
A number of safety precautions were outlined in the permit including practice runs with "safety pilots", holding the event in a remote stretch of desert, and equipping both planes and pilots with parachutes in the event of a mishap.
"At this point, we have flown more than 100 vertical drop test flights with no safety issues," organizers wrote in a request to the FAA in February.
On Friday, the FAA denied the request to leave the planes empty during the televised stunt, saying the team "may continue to perform this demonstration in accordance with FAA regulations by including an additional pilot for each aircraft."
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Representatives for Red Bull and Hulu did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
Emails to pilot Luke Aikins and a California Polytechnic State University professor whom organizers say they consulted were not immediately returned Monday.
Video of the three-hour show featuring the event was not available on Hulu's website as it was removed Monday morning.
The event involved two pilots and skydiving specialists, Aikins and Andy Farrington, whose biographies record thousands of hours of flight time.
Organizers said the pilots planned to recover the planes before they reached 1.2 kilometers.
Luke Aikins fell into this huge net set up in the Simi Valley desert.
He jumped from almost 8 kilometers high, without a parachute.
(Credit: AP)
In his record, Aikins has the milestone of having jumped almost 8 kilometers high without a parachute.
Farrington has completed more than 26,000 parachute jumps, according to his biography on the Red Bull website.
The FAA has not said what kind of punishment those involved could face.
Last week, the FAA announced that it had revoked the pilot's certificate of a YouTuber who the agency said crashed his plane on purpose.
Trevor Jacob posted a video in December showing him parachuting from a plane that he claimed had an engine failure.
The FAA says Jacob was "careless and reckless."
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