WATCH: Red Bull pilot lands plane on moving freight train in aviation first

Red Bull’s long-running slogan claims it “gives you wings” — and in Türkiye this weekend, one of its pilots put that promise to the test by landing and taking off from a freight train travelling at full speed

This is the incredible moment an Italian stuntman landed his Red Bull aircraft on a freight train travelling at 120km/h before taking off again from the same moving container in what organisers describe as a world first.

Pilot Dario Costa carried out the manoeuvre on 15 February in Afyonkarahisar, Türkiye, bringing his Zivko Edge 540 down onto the ninth cargo container of a moving train before executing a vertical pull take-off seconds later.

To match the train’s maximum operational speed of 120km/h, Costa reduced the aircraft to 87km/h, close to its minimum controllable airspeed, during the approach.

The entire sequence — approach, blind landing and take-off — was completed within a 50-second window along a 2.5km stretch of railway.

The final approach was conducted without a direct view of the landing platform. Because of the aircraft’s nose-up attitude and the height of the train, the container remained outside the pilot’s field of vision. Organisers said continuous aerodynamic corrections were required to maintain both longitudinal and lateral alignment, as turbulence and unstable airflow generated by the moving train affected the aircraft.

The Zivko Edge 540 is a mid-wing, single-seat piston-engine aircraft powered by a 400-horsepower engine. It has a wingspan of 7.5 metres, a length of seven metres and a landing gear width of 1.7 metres.

According to the organisers, no major structural modifications were made for the attempt. The aircraft’s set-up was optimised for lower-speed flight using two custom strakes and six small vortex generators designed to improve airflow and stability.

Preparation for the project included aerodynamic modelling, simulation work and flight training.

Costa also undertook cognitive “time–movement–anticipation” training at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Thalgau, Austria.

A separate three-day moving-platform scenario was tested in Pula, Croatia, to refine alignment and reaction timing under controlled conditions before the live attempt in Türkiye.

“Train Landing was one of the most challenging and demanding projects of my career,” he said.

“Landing blind on a very small moving runway required complete focus on cognitive and flying skills. It was a complex project that required precision, teamwork and trust.”

Organisers said the manoeuvre marked the first time an aircraft had successfully landed and taken off from a moving train at full operational speed, setting what they described as a new benchmark in precision aviation.

Costa is no stranger to high-risk precision flying. In 2021 Costa set a new world record after flying the same Red Bull plane through two road tunnels on the Northern Marmara Motorway near Istanbul, navigating more than 2.2 kilometres inside the confined concrete structures at speeds of around 245km/h. 

The attempt required sustained low-altitude control in turbulent air and marked the first time an aircraft had flown through a tunnel, further establishing the Italian pilot’s record of operating fixed-wing aircraft in restricted environments.

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