What it took Dario Costa to fly at 350 km/h down the world’s most iconic ski slope while enduring 10G forces.
Red Bull Air Race pilot Dario Costa has pushed the boundaries of aviation once again by completing a daring course preview down the legendary Streif in Kitzbühel with a top speed of 350 km/h in his plane ahead of the 85th Hahnenkamm races this weekend.
Obsessed with flight since childhood, Italian Costa made his first flight as a pilot aged just 16 and, in 2013, he took over the role of Flight Operations Manager for Red Bull Air Race and development pilot on the Extra 330LX and Zivko Edge 540 acrobatic planes he uses to this day.
After making his debut in Red Bull Air Race’s Challenger Class debut in 2018 and claiming his first podium place in only his second race, Costa has dedicated himself to setting new flight records in recent years with his incredible 2021 Tunnel Pass project seeing him set five in Turkey.
This time, Costa wanted to bend the laws of physics during his world-first preview of the daunting slope where the world’s best male skiers will take on Super G, downhill and slalom races this weekend.
Costa, 44, said: “This is a world first, which is why I love it so much. Like all world firsts, the challenge is that you have no previous data to study on. You have no experience. Whatever you prepare for, there is always a big question mark. Records can be broken, but world firsts will live forever.“
Arguably the most challenging downhill course in the world, The Streif is 3,312 metres long with an 860-metre elevation drop from the start gate at 1,665 metres above sea level to the finish line. Its iconic sections include the Mausefalle (mousetrap), Steilhang (steep slope), Alte Schneise (old clearing), Hausbergkante (Hausberg edge), Traverse, and then the final exhilarating jump into the finish.
Before Costa could take flight, his Flying Bulls project team had to sort out permits, risk assessments, ballistic calculations and flight path strategy for a safe operation over a course closed to the public. Flying the Streif as close as possible in his Zivko Edge 540 plane, Costa battled g-forces of over 10g for a unique perspective – including the maximum gradient of 85 percent – as the skiers themselves have to cope with a series of long jumps and tight turns at breathtaking speeds.
He had zero room for error as, if he was flying too fast, his turning radius would have been too large to stay inside the course while flying too slow meant that he would have stalled in the turns.
He explained: “Already flying level over mountains is challenging, but doing it with gradients of 85 degrees downhill is a new game. First, I had to learn the course by heart. Unlike a Red Bull Air Race course, which is designed so that you can fly at full power at speeds over 370 km/h and don’t have to reduce it from entry to exit, I had to adjust the power for each turn to avoid hitting anything. At the same time, I had to focus on not stalling or going over 12g which is the max of the airplane.“
Costa’s flight included two extremely demanding manoeuvres with the pass through the Red Bull arch at the Hausbergkante and the finishing arch (Audi Bogen), where he had to react at lightning speed.
He added: “The manoeuvres were very difficult – and not just because of the steepness. For example, the two arches that I flew under were extremely low and put me even closer to the floor. There was also the serious challenge of the lack of depth perception, as almost everything on the Streif was white. It was an enormous challenge for me as a pilot.”
Witnessing the flight first hand down below was 2001 Super-G World Champion Daron Rahlves, who won 12 World Cup races in his alpine skiing career including the iconic Downhill on the Streif at Kitzbühel in 2003.
Rahlves, 51, said: “Watching Dario fly through the air and seeing how precise and dynamic he is, is incredible. It’s a full-blown race machine in the air. Anytime I get to ski down the Streif is an amazing feeling. To take it to the next level and bring Dario in the mix with the plane, and see and feel him rip by was probably the best run ever. It rocked me to the core.”
Dario Costa’s plane
Aeroplane: Zivko Edge 540
Specification: Aerobatic aircraft, tailwheel aeroplane
Wing span: 7.62m
Dimensions of the Red Bull arch at the Hausbergkante: 16m wide and 6.90m high
Maximum speed during the course preview: 350kph
Maximum permitted G-forces: 12G (Red Bull Content Pool)
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