A stuntman has fallen 25,000ft from a plane to the ground without wearing a parachute, landing in a net at 120mph.

Luke Aikins, a professional skydiver with 18,000 jumps under his belt, leapt from a plane without a parachute in a stunt broadcast live on television.

He endured forces of nearly 4G as he landed in the net on his back in the Simi Valley, California.

Shortly after landing, Mr Aikins was lowered to the ground, immediately rising to his feet and rushing to hug his wife Monica.

He had begun the jump flanked by three fellow skydivers who accompanied him until they peeled off to pull their chutes at 5,000ft.

One of them was tasked with helping him remove the oxygen mask he had to wear for the first 10,000ft of the jump.

When asked afterwards how he felt, he said: "I'm almost levitating. It's incredible. To think what just happened...to be honest I just can't get it out of my mouth - all these guys...everybody. It is awesome."

The net that 42-year-old Mr Aikins landed in was just 100ft by 100ft.

He was nearly prevented from carrying out the stunt by his union the Screen Actors Guild, who were originally insisting he wore a parachute.

If the Guild had continued with its requirement he said he would have called it off as the parachute container he would have had to wear would have made his landing more dangerous.

Mr Aikins, who made his first tandem jump when he was 12, was the back-up jumper in 2012 when Felix Baumgartner became the first skydiver to break the speed of sound during a jump from 24 miles above Earth.

He also provides skydiving training to US Navy Seals and other members of elite fighting forces.

Before the jump was shown on the Fox network in the US, an onscreen warning was shown advising people not to copy the stunt at home.