With records being broken these days left, right, and center, another one is claimed by a stunt pilot who managed to successfully execute a massively daring task. Flying a plane while staying inside a tunnel is a huge danger as the plane cannot achieve enough altitude, can crash sideways or even from the top or the bottom, and the plane can have smoke issues, blinding the front view. Despite all these issues, this man managed to break a record with an added stunt of managing to cross two tunnels, one right after the other.
The record was broken in Turkey in the city of Istanbul by an Italian professional Red Bull Air Race and stunt pilot, Dario Costa. Through this feat, he was able to break four records in total. One of which was the Guinness World Record of crossing consecutive tunnels at the location of Çatalca district on Turkey’s Northern Marmara Highway in a plane.
It was reported that, in total, a “distance of 2.26 km [1.4 miles]. And in less than 44 seconds, Dario Costa had set a certified Guinness World Record plus four more,” on the website’s official news release. This has unlocked limitless possibilities for the aviation industry.
The start of the event began at 6:43 AM local time when Costa took off on his modified Zivko Edge 540 race plane. It was a Formula One seat, a human-made ‘sharkskin’ to reduce drag and improve efficiency and lift, with a laser measurement system for training.
It was suggested to perform the stunt early in the morning to reduce light issues. The event was sponsored by Red Bull. The early morning time also reduced the effects of air pressure differences inside and outside the tunnel. The distance it maintained was between 27 inches to five feet above the asphalt (70 cm to 1.6 meters) with 13 feet (four meters) between wingtips and the tunnel walls.
A speed of 152 mph was achieved when the time came to cross the second tunnel. He stated that “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.”