Photo: Red Bull
Red Bull gives you wings. In this particular case, Red Bull also gives you the backing and support you need to set five new Guinness World Record with just one, incredibly impressive feat.
Italian race and stunt pilot Dario Costa is the man of the hour with the Red Bull team, having just achieved what he calls the realization of a lifelong dream: flying through a tunnel. In fact, he didn’t fly down just one tunnel, but two, an outstanding feat if you consider that the open portion between the two was the most challenging.
It happened on Saturday, September 4, 2021, at the Çatalca Tunnels on Turkey’s Northern Marmara Highway, near Istanbul. Flying a specially modified Zivko Edge 540 race plane, Costa was able to traverse both tunnels without a glitch, making it to the other side, where he celebrated with an impromptu loop and tears of joy.
Averaging speeds of 245 kph (158 mph), Costa piloted the plane through the first, shorter tunnel, and then braced for crosswinds during the open section ahead of the second one. He describes this as the most challenging part of the feat, though keeping the aircraft on a straight flight path just above the asphalt, with very little wiggle room between the circular walls, was no small trick.
In total, Costa crossed a distance of 2.26 km (1.4 miles) in under 44 seconds. Once he landed the craft, he was handed five separate Guinness World Record certificates, including one for the first airplane flight through a tunnel and one for the longest tunnel flown through with an airplane. The other records are for longest flight under a solid obstacle, first airplane flight through two tunnels, and first airplane takeoff from a tunnel.
The feat, dubbed project Tunnel Pass, represented the culmination of one year of hard work on part of a 40-crew team, alongside Costa. In a statement, Costa says he had no idea whether the feat could actually be done, but the fact that he was the one to show that it could is a dream come true.
Here’s the record-breaking Tunnel Pass.
It happened on Saturday, September 4, 2021, at the Çatalca Tunnels on Turkey’s Northern Marmara Highway, near Istanbul. Flying a specially modified Zivko Edge 540 race plane, Costa was able to traverse both tunnels without a glitch, making it to the other side, where he celebrated with an impromptu loop and tears of joy.
Averaging speeds of 245 kph (158 mph), Costa piloted the plane through the first, shorter tunnel, and then braced for crosswinds during the open section ahead of the second one. He describes this as the most challenging part of the feat, though keeping the aircraft on a straight flight path just above the asphalt, with very little wiggle room between the circular walls, was no small trick.
In total, Costa crossed a distance of 2.26 km (1.4 miles) in under 44 seconds. Once he landed the craft, he was handed five separate Guinness World Record certificates, including one for the first airplane flight through a tunnel and one for the longest tunnel flown through with an airplane. The other records are for longest flight under a solid obstacle, first airplane flight through two tunnels, and first airplane takeoff from a tunnel.
The feat, dubbed project Tunnel Pass, represented the culmination of one year of hard work on part of a 40-crew team, alongside Costa. In a statement, Costa says he had no idea whether the feat could actually be done, but the fact that he was the one to show that it could is a dream come true.
Here’s the record-breaking Tunnel Pass.
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