For the first time in the world, Polish pilot Luke Chepiera has made an incredible landing at Dubai’s iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. Using his customized fixed-wing CubCrafters Carbon Cub STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) plane, he landed on a skyscraper helipad 212 m (695 ft) above the city and stopped just a few meters away. bottom. Spare.
A helipad was a small goal for Czepiela. His “runway” was only 27 m (88.5 ft) long for him to land and come to a safe stop. After his two failures on the morning of March 14, he succeeded on his third and stopped at 20.76 m (68 ft). After a brief pause for celebration, he again successfully took off despite the limited space available.
“The biggest challenge was the lack of external standards that are typically found in airports with hundreds of meters of runways,” explains Czepiela. “Normally, when you approach the runway, you know how high you are, and you can easily control your approach path. I had to rely on practice and instinct: if I wanted to stop before I ran out of space, when I ran out of the last few references.”
Land a plane on a small helipad (rooftop of a 7-star hotel)
Czepiela is an experienced pilot with nearly 12,000 flight hours and a day job as an Airbus A320 captain. He is also adept at daring stunts, having previously flown under three bridges and landed on a pier in Poland. To prepare for this latest challenge, he has recorded his 650 ground landing trials since 2021 in Poland, USA and Dubai, building confidence that he can actually pull it off. I was convinced that I could.
He also had help. American aviation expert Mike Patty escorted him to the helipad and worked with the aircraft manufacturer to modify his Cub, a 7.1 m (23.3 ft) long, 10.44 m (34.25 ft) wingspan Carbon. Patey and CubCrafters have upgraded the suspension, moved the main fuel tanks to the rear of the plane to allow for more aggressive braking, added nitrous oxide tanks, and used fabric to cover the fuselage and wings as a lightweight alternative. I made a lot of changes, such as replacing the . Ultimately, the plane weighed 425 kg (936 lbs), but his Titan CC340 engine was working with the nitrous needed to gain enough speed to take off from the helipad. At times it produced a maximum of 230 horsepower.
Naim Chidiac/Red Bull Content Pool
The Burj Al Arab Jumeirah heliport has hosted many stunts in the past, including Tiger Woods teeing off and David Coulthard performing donuts in his F1 car. Designed by WKK Architects, the building hosts a luxurious ‘seven-star’ hotel and is an impressive feat of engineering in itself.
Originally completed in 1999, it rises to a height of 321 m (1,053 ft). From the coast he sits on an artificial island 300 m (984 ft) away, with a spacious atrium that takes up most of the interior height. The fiberglass screens that characterize the building, intended to give the appearance of billowing ship sails, actually have a utilitarian purpose as well, reducing solar heat gain inside while allowing diffused light to flow naturally into the interior. The sails are attached to the building with steel cables and can flex in the wind. Due to the tower’s position, it is partially covered with Teflon to keep the exterior from getting dirty and dusty in sandy landscapes.
Source: Red Bull, CTBUH, Atkins
