Although we don’t have any Force users in real life, we undoubtedly have pilots just as skilled as any in the Gold or Red Squadrons. Italian pilot Dario Costa, for example, could probably take on a few dozen TIE fighters on his own. Or maybe even give Luke a run for his money, as Costa has just nailed the world’s first airplane flight through a tunnel. And, as you can see below, the feat is just as astounding as the Death Star Trench Run.
Laughing Squid picked up on Costa’s daring display, which Red Bull sponsored and captured. No surprise there, as everyone knows the energy drink company is a big fan of helping to put on big stunts. Including ones involving extreme midair “speedivers” as well as daredevil kayakers.
In this new brazen act of death defiance, Costa flies a single-propeller plane through two—yes, two!—tunnels in Istanbul, Turkey; topping out at a speed of about 150 mph. And the whole stunt goes off without a hitch.
Red Bull via No Comment TV
Although the whole attempt is only roughly a minute long, it still has that climactic feel to it as Costa flies through the pair of tunnels over the Marmara highway. Probably because literally every second of the flight could’ve ended in disaster. Something the constantly teetering wings emphasize in a stomach-dropping kind of way.
“[Costa’s] unprecedented flight through Istanbul’s Çatalca Tunnels was seriously impressive with cross winds between the tunnels and air bumps inside them testing his skills—but ending the flight in the aviation history books was SO worth it” Red Bull writes in an Instagram post. Indeed, the pilot’s reaction at the end of the clip would’ve worked just as well post Death Star annihilation.
In the video immediately above, we get what is perhaps the most Star Wars-ish glimpse of the stunt. That look on Costa’s face as he focuses on not crashing(?) is just as priceless as the one on Luke’s during his Trench Run. It almost looks like he’s in touch with his Midi-chlorians. Something we’ve heard can happen after four or more Red Bulls.
Feature image: Red Bull via No Comment TV