Pilot Makes Aviation History by Landing on and Taking off From a Moving Train With Aid From a 2,107-HP Hypercar
Planes, trains, and automobiles. That’s what it took for Italian pilot Dario Costa to make aviation history on Sunday when he landed his plane on a moving train, then took off again.
Costa made history by landing his Zivko Edge 540 plane on a cargo train moving at top speed and then taking off vertically from the same container.
Making the feat even more difficult is the fact that, unlike with a conventional runway, the closer Costa got to his landing platform, the less he could see it due to the aircraft’s angle of descent. Also, the train was traveling at 75 mph, fast for a cargo train, but pretty slow for an airplane. Costa had to reduce his plane to a near-stall airspeed of 55 mph to complete the task.
On top of all that, the train’s heavy turbulence made the landing quite difficult. Costa called the train landing in Afyonkarahisar, Türkiye, “one of the most challenging and demanding projects” of his career.
“There were so many variables to measure, but the greatest test was learning to land blind on a very small moving runway – relying only on cognitive and flying skills,” he said.
One of the world’s fastest hypercars helped make the feat possible
To prepare for the train turbulence, engineering and flight teams developed simulations and conducted controlled tests using a $2 million Rimac Automobili Nevera R hypercar. The 2,107-horsepower, all-electric Nevera R can travel 0-to-60-mph in just 1.74 seconds, but for the testing the hypercar was driven in reverse.
In 2023, a Rimac Nevera set a record by going 171 mph in reverse. Since it has four electric motors, and an electric motor can spin just as fast backward as it can forward, it can go significantly faster in reverse than a car with an internal combustion engine.
“The most critical aspect was the alignment with the train, so precision had to be absolute, and he achieved that,” said Filippo Barbero, the project’s aviation consultant. “During a project like this, there’s no room for emotions – Dario is a true magician.”
In 2021, Dario Costa flew through two highway tunnels near Istanbul. Following that feat, it was determined that Afyonkarahisar was the ideal site for the train landing, due to its suitable railway infrastructure, operating conditions, and geography.
“After flying through a tunnel, I kept asking myself what could be more challenging – but landing on a moving train, on a point you can barely see, relying purely on feeling the wind, requires an entirely different level of focus. I am proud that we have changed the definition of what is possible in aviation.”
