Racing plane flying through two tunnels, the feat of Dario Costa
Dario Costa has achieved an incredible feat. Professional pilot and stuntman, 41, at dawn on Saturday, September 4, 2021 wrote [...]
Dario Costa has achieved an incredible feat. A 41-year-old professional pilot and stuntman, he wrote a page of aviation history with his racing plane at dawn on Saturday, September 4, 2021, the Zivko Edge 540, with which he drove through two tunnels in Çatalca, just outside Istanbul, in Turkey. No one had ever done this before, and that is what makes his feat even more extraordinary.
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Samo Vidic / Red Bull Content Pool
Flying between the gallery walls
The vehicle was specially modified to prepare it for this flight. Dario entered the first tunnel at 6:43 a.m., maintained a flight path between 70 cm and 1 m above the asphalt and a distance of 3.5 m between the tunnel walls. The environmental conditions were excellent for flight, but complications came due to the inclinations and shapes of the tunnels. It took 43.44 seconds to completely travel the distance with a maximum speed reached of 245 km/h. In total, the trip covered a distance of 2.26 km.
One of the most difficult moments was the passage between one tunnel and the other, namely the 360 m in the open air that Dario had to cross to then enter the second tunnel. A problem mainly related to the winds crossing them, but the pilot put in all his skill and experience to circumvent the obstacle and continue his feat, which he accomplished by entering the Guinness Book of World Records: it is in fact a world record for the longest tunnel traveled by an aircraft, 1,730 meters. Along with this, four other records:
- First plane to go through a highway tunnel
- Longer flight below a solid obstacle
- First plane to go through two tunnels
- First takeoff from a tunnel
The words of the pilot and the Guinness World Record feat
Dario Costa celebrated the great feat with a 360-degree turn before landing. "When I came out of the first tunnel, the plane started to move to the right because of crosswinds: everything was going fast up to that point, then time started to slow down. I focused on getting the plane back on the right track and entering the other tunnel. After that, everything went fast again," Dario explained.
The pilot did not hide the concerns ahead of the flight, "I had never done this before, so there was a big question mark. It was a great relief, great happiness and excitement. A dream come true."
It is definitely Of the greatest feat of Dario Costa and all of aviation. To achieve it, it took a team of 40 people, a year of preparation and training. The project has been in great secrecy all this time, sponsored and funded by Red Bull, and has resulted in an incredible achievement that, as mentioned, enters the Guinness World Records.
Who is Dario Costa
Dario Costa is an aviator specializing in Air Race. Born in Manchester May 9, 1980, has always traveled extensively while cultivating his passion for flying. He moved to Bologna at 6 years old began his journey that led him in 2016 to become the first Italian to qualify in the Red Bull Air Race. During high school, he learned how to fly an airplane, and before high school graduation he could already boast of completed solo flights.
