Video: Flying Under Bridges? So Last Century. Check Out This World Record High-Speed Tunnel Flight!

Tunnel Pass pilot Dario Costa with Guinness World Record certificate. Photo courtesy of Red Bull

First, we had no idea that there was even any such thing as a world record for flying through a tunnel, but seeing that such records are apparently kept, Dario Costa must own the record book now after his high-speed pass through not one but two tunnels, both of them situated near Istanbul (not Constantinople). The 41-year-old race and aerobatic pilot flew his Zivko Edge 540 on the flight, and before you ask, there was no opposite direction traffic of any kind.

Costa took off from inside the first tunnel and flew for a shorter distance through that one before exiting it and almost immediately entering the second one. The in-tunnel lighting was perfect, and the brightness for Costa looked to be in the Goldilocks zone. That said, there was little margin for error. Speeding through at around 150 mph, Costa needed to stay just above the pavement in order to give his Edge sufficient lateral clearance. And, spoiler alert, he nails it.

It all took around just under 45 seconds, and when he emerged, well, after he landed, he was presented with the Guinness World Record for Longest Tunnel Flown through, at 1,730 meters, or just over a mile.

Plane & PilotStaff