This is the incredible moment Italian pilot Dario Costa set five new Guinness World Record’s as he flew a race plane at 245 kph through not one but two tunnels on the Northern Marmara Highway just outside Istanbul, Turkey in less than 44 seconds.
Costa had to fly the specially adapted Zivko Edge 540 raceplane just one metre above the road surface and navigate the two tunnels with just 3.5 metres between each wingtip and the tunnel wall.
Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
The entire flight lasted just 43.44 seconds and covered a distance of 2,260 metres. Costa set five new records including the Guinness World Record for the Longest Tunnel Flown through with an Aeroplane at 1,610 m.
The four other records were: first aeroplane flight through a tunnel, longest flight under a solid obstacle (1,610 m), first aeroplane flight through two tunnels, and the first aeroplane takeoff from a tunnel.
The most challenging part of the flight wasn’t actually flying through the tunnels but the gap of open air between the two tunnels when the Red Bull plane was exposed to potentially dangerous cross winds.
“Everything seemed to be happening so fast, but when I got out of the first tunnel, the plane started to move to the right because of the cross winds, and in my head, everything slowed down in that moment,” Costa said after the dawn record breaking flight on Saturday morning.
“I reacted and just focused on getting the plane back on the right path to enter the other tunnel. Then in my mind everything sped up all over again.”
“I’d never flown in a tunnel in my life – nobody had ever done it – so there was a big question mark in my head whether everything would go as we expected or if there would be something to improvise. It was a big relief, of course, but big, big happiness was the main emotion. For me it’s another dream come true.”
The 41 year old came up with the idea more than a year ago but it took a team of 40 to finally pull off the amazing feat. Costa was mentored by the legendary Hungarian aerobatic and racing pilot Péter Besenyei
In rather unstated fashion, Besenyei said of the achievement: “To fly in a tunnel is not a normal situation”.
Main Photo Credit: Eros Maggi / Red Bull Content Pool. Video Credit: Red Bull
Hope this was well filmed – sees like a natural for including in a Bond movie.