DUBAI – In what appeared to be a hair raising event, an airline pilot successfully managed to land a plane on Dubai’s iconic Burj Al Arab helipad.
Lukasz Czepiela managed to gain global spotlight after landing the machine on the narrow 27m diameter helipad of the building.
A video of the heart-stopping event shows Czepiela assessing the situation before making the landing and elaborating that ‘It’s a very steady wind right now’.
In a first, Red Bull CubCrafters aircraft successfully lands on the helipad on the 56-storey Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai!
"Bullseye Landing" is the name being given to this event, where Dubai hosted the record-breaking stunt as Polish pilot Luke Czepiela. @hvtiaf @arunprakash pic.twitter.com/oXDVd4Db78— Mahendra Negi (@MvsNegi) March 14, 2023
What sets this landing apart is the fact that it was made without any reference points and at a height of 212 metres, which is the 58th floor of the hotel.
“My greatest passion is aerobatics. I have flown under Warsaw’s bridges, which was a five out of 10 in difficulty. I also landed on the Sopot Pier – the longest wooden pier in Europe – in 2019, which I would rank as a seven out of 10. But the Burj Al Arab landing was different. It was an 11 out of 10,” the 39-year old Polish pilot said brimming with excitement.
For the landing, the plane was altered to the extent that 13 special modifications were made to it to lessen the weight to some 400 Kilograms and make a successful landing as all eyes were fixed on the event, Khaleej Times reported.
Czepiela also said on his Instagram that as many as 650 attempts were made on ground to prepare for the historic landing.
