Just A Little High On The Landing

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Just A Little High On The Landing

#1 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:01 am

Pilot makes first-ever plane landing on Burj Al Arab helipad

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/czep ... index.html
Link has pics.

Polish pilot Lukasz Czepiela made aviation history on Tuesday, becoming the first person to land a plane on the helipad of the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel in Dubai.

Czepiela was able to bring his specially adapted light aircraft to a stop in just 21 meters (68 feet), landing on a platform only 27 meters (89 feet) wide, 212 meters (696 feet) above the ground on top of the 56-story building.

“The biggest challenge was the lack of any external points of reference, which is usually found at an airport where you have hundreds of meters of runway,” he told sponsors Red Bull.

Designed to resemble a sail facing out to sea, the Burj al Arab is the tallest building worldwide to be used exclusively as a hotel.
The Burj al Arab received the first ever helipad license from the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority.
Set above the 59th floor of the Burj al Arab hotel, this helipad watches over the Dubai coastline. Since 1999, it has hosted an impressive line-up of international sporting stars.

The helipad has transformed into a car racing track, a boxing ring, and the starting point for the highest kitesurfing jump of all time.
Tiger Woods teed off on the helipad before the 2004 Dubai Desert Classic.
Anthony Joshua trained on the helipad in November 2017.
US golf star Cheyenne Woods paid the helipad a visit during the 2014 Dubai Ladies Masters.
Andre Agassi and Roger Federer played a friendly match overlooking the Dubai skyline in 2005.
The Burj al Arab stands at 321 meters on its own artificial island in the Arabian Gulf.
Designed to resemble a sail facing out to sea, the Burj al Arab is the tallest building worldwide to be used exclusively as a hotel.
The Burj al Arab received the first ever helipad license from the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority.
Set above the 59th floor of the Burj al Arab hotel, this helipad watches over the Dubai coastline. Since 1999, it has hosted an impressive line-up of international sporting stars.
The helipad has transformed into a car racing track, a boxing ring, and the starting point for the highest kitesurfing jump of all time.
Helipad burj al arab

The stunt had been in the planning since 2021 and required 650 test landings, according to Red Bull.

Czepiela’s day job is captaining an Airbus A320, but he has some impressive flying achievements under his belt, including winning the 2018 world championship challenger class title in the Red Bull Air Race, and landing an aircraft on a wooden pier in Sopot, Poland.

Czepiela managed to land the light aircraft on a platform only 27 meters (89 feet) wide, 212 meters (696 feet) above the ground.

Czepiela joins an elite group of sporting legends who have graced the helipad of the sail-shaped hotel, including tennis champions Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, who played a match there in 2005, and former F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, who performed donuts there in 2013.

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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#2 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:07 am

Watch: World's shortest runway? Pilot lands plane on Dubai's Burj Al Arab helipad, sets new global record
The pilot reveals that 650 landing attempts were made on ground before the big day


https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/watch- ... w-global-r

Link has video

In a first, Lukasz Czepiela, an airline pilot successfully completed a bullseye landing of a plane on the Burj Al Arab helipad.

The iconic helipad, just 27m in diameter, witnessed its first plane take-off and landing.

In a video put up by Visit Dubai on Instagram, Czepiela is seen assessing the situation before making the remarkable landing. "It's a very steady wind right now," he says before moving towards the big 'H'.

The Red Bull ambassador then successfully makes the landing. Mike Patey, an aviation engineer monitoring the situation on the helipad runs in to hug and congratulate Czepiela, spitting out expletives, he says, "You beautiful man!"

The landing was made without any reference points and at a height of 212 metres, which is the 56th floor of the hotel.


As his flight added another chapter to the storied helipad, Czepiela took a moment to reflect on how this challenge ranked against his previous aviation exploits.

“My greatest passion is aerobatics. I have flown under Warsaw’s bridges, which was a five out of 10 in difficulty. I also landed on the Sopot Pier – the longest wooden pier in Europe – in 2019, which I would rank as a seven out of 10. But the Burj Al Arab landing was different. It was an 11 out of 10.

Overcoming challenges
The pilot revealed that 13 special modifications were made to the aircraft to decrease the weight as much as possible and ensure that the feat can be accomplished.

Mike Patey made several modifications to the aircraft, including reducing its weight to 400 kilograms, moving the main fuel tank to the rear of the plane for more aggressive braking, and adding nitrous to enhance power for Czepiela’s secondary challenge of taking off from the helipad.

Recalling the lead-up to the landing, Patey emphasised the importance of reducing the weight of the aircraft. “Our biggest challenge was reducing the weight,” recalled Patey. “Any mass in motion wants to keep rolling and if we couldn’t stop it, Czepiela would have bailed off the other side of the building.”

Czepiela also said on his Instagram story that 650 attempts were made on ground to prepare for the big day.

The second challenge of taking off in the limited space the size of a tennis court required Patey to come up with a solution that would afford the plane low weight but a high power output. “To achieve this, we added nitrous tanks, which provided the required power without adding weight to the aircraft. Nitrous fuel speeds up combustion in the engine, which helps the cylinders accelerate more quickly,” explained Patey.

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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#3 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:18 am


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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#4 Post by Ex-Ascot » Thu Mar 16, 2023 9:41 am

650 practice landings! More landings than I would do in five years. Maybe more.
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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#5 Post by llondel » Sat Mar 18, 2023 4:29 am

Ex-Ascot wrote:
Thu Mar 16, 2023 9:41 am
650 practice landings! More landings than I would do in five years. Maybe more.
I wonder who paid all the landing fees?

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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#6 Post by Pinky the pilot » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:57 am


650 practice landings! More landings than I would do in five years. Maybe more
One of the last times I was flying the Glider tug for the Club in Japan I did just over 1,000 launches in 3 months.

This did not include the warm-up flight done each morning.
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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#7 Post by Ex-Ascot » Mon May 01, 2023 9:48 am

Pinky the pilot wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:57 am

650 practice landings! More landings than I would do in five years. Maybe more
One of the last times I was flying the Glider tug for the Club in Japan I did just over 1,000 launches in 3 months.

This did not include the warm-up flight done each morning.
Pinky, didn't it get boring? When I was para dropping 15 lifts a day and I had enough. Do you speak the lingo?
'Yes, Madam, I am drunk, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly.' Sir Winston Churchill.

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Re: Just A Little High On The Landing

#8 Post by Pinky the pilot » Tue May 02, 2023 11:03 am

Er negative, Ex-Ascot. In glider towing, whilst you may launch to the same altitude and flying the same pattern, each and every launch is somehow different. It is never boring/mundane/repetitive.

My record for the number of tows in one day is 55. Every single tow was different in some way.

After three months there I am able to understand the basics of the language provided they speak s l o w l y and c l e a r l y. :D

Trouble is I then go home, and with no-one to speak it to me I tend to lose a lot of that which I have learned.

But my standard line is that I know enough to have my face slapped by an indignant Japanese Lady! :ymblushing: :D
You only live twice. Once when you're born. Once when you've looked death in the face.

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