Watch the Godfather of Air Racing Fly Through a 70-Foot-Wide Canal
- 2:57 pm |
The Corinth Canal in Greece is 4 miles long and only 70 feet wide, and Peter Besenyei just became the first man to fly a plane right through the middle. And then he did a few barrel rolls for good measure.
The canal was built in the late 1800s to connect the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cut through the Peloponnesian peninsula, making the tip an island. But because of financial problems, its narrow passage, and a bad habit of dropping rocks onto the heads of merchant ships, it never gained much traction as a shipping canal. But it is good for something.
Enter Besenyei. Known as the godfather of the Red Bull Air Race, the test pilot was instrumental in helping develop the insane, high-speed race series in 2001, laying out the regulations and selecting the first batch of pilots that would compete 80 feet above the ground at 200 mph.
For his flight through the canal, Besenyei used the same Zivko Edge 540 single-prop used in the air races, with a 300 horsepower engine, a 24-foot wingspan, and its ability to rocket to 4,000 feet in less than a minute. It’s also supremely agile, perfect for maneuvering through pillions and, now, running through an abandoned canal.