On 23rd January 2025, the Italian aerobatic and stunt pilot Dario Costa pushed the boundaries of aviation once again, when he flew his Zivko Edge 540 aerobatic aeroplane at a top speed of 350 kph, over the legendary Streif in Kitzbühel, Austria.
Costa was fascinated with aviation from an early age and made his first flight as a pilot when he was just sixteen years old. In 2013, he was appointed Flight Operations Manager for Red Bull Air Race and became development pilot for Extra 330LX and Zivko Edge 540 aerobatic aircraft. Nowadays, he continues to regularly fly both types of these aeroplanes.
In 2018, Dario Costa made his debut as a race pilot in the Challenger Class of the Red Bull Air Race. In just his second race in this world-famous air racing series, which was held in Cannes, France, the Italian pilot achieved his first podium position by taking third place.
Regrettably, one year later, the history of these air races – which attracted thousands of fans around the world – came to an end in the middle of the 2019 season, being the last one of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship series.
Since then, Costa has dedicated himself to crossing aviation boundaries and breaking flight records, setting five of them in 2021 during his first stunt of flying his Edge 540 through Çatalca Tunnels in Turkey.
This time, the Italian pilot challenged the laws of physics by attempting the world-first flight along one of the most famous ski slopes, the Streif in Kitzbühel, where usually the best skiers in the world compete against each other in Super G, downhill and slalom events.
‘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.’ – said Dario Costa about his feat.
The Streif, which is arguably the most challenging ski downhill course in the world is 3,312 metres long and has 860-metre elevation drop from the start gate at 1,665 metres above sea level to the finish line. Among its iconic, the most demanding sections are the Mausefalle (mousetrap), Steilhang (steep slope), Alte Schneise (old clearing), Hausbergkante (Hausberg edge), Traverse, and then the final exhilarating jump into the finish.
Before Dario Costa could execute this extremely challenging flight, his Flying Bulls project team had to deal with obtaining a number of permits, performing risk assessments, ballistic calculations, as well as a flight path strategy. All this to ensure a safe operation over a track that was closed to all the public for this purpose.
For achieving the unique perspective – including a maximum gradient of 85% – on what skiers typically face on this slope during long jumps and tight turns at high speeds, Costa, flying as low as possible along the Streif in his Zivko Edge 540 aeroplane, had to deal with g-forces of over 10Gs.
During the history-making flight, the Italian pilot had no room for mistakes. If he would fly too fast, his turning radius would be too large to stay on the flight path. Flying too slow would mean the risk of stalling the aircraft in the turns.
‘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.’ – explained Dario Costa.
The flight along the Streif included two extremely demanding manoeuvres with a pass through the Red Bull arch at Hausbergkante and Audi Bogen, the finish arch, where the pilot had to react instantly.
‘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.’ – added Costa.
Dario Costa’s flight was witnessed from the ground by Daron Rahlves, 2001 Super-G World Champion, who in his alpine skiing career won twelve World Cups, including the iconic Downhill on the Streif at Kitzbühel in 2003.
‘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.’ – said Rahlves, commenting on the witnessed world-first flight along the Streif, performed by the Italian pilot.
Cover photo: Mirja Geh / © Red Bull Content Pool. Information from the Red Bull company press release were used.
