A light aircraft lands on the roof of a hotel in Dubai. Captured from Twitter @TansuYegen
The world’s first light aircraft successfully landed on the helipad built on the roof of a 56th floor hotel.
According to CNN and the United Arab Emirates The National, on the 14th (local time), a light plane piloted by Polish aerobatic Luk Chefiella (39) is located on the roof of the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Hotel, a landmark in Dubai, the capital the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has landed
The helipad where the light aircraft landed was 27 meters wide, the size of a tennis court.
Aviator Chefiella is said to have practiced 650 landings over the past two years with the aim of landing the plane on a hotel roof.
Chafiella produced a lightweight stunt aircraft with the support of Cup Crafter, an American light aircraft developer and manufacturer. Light aircraft typically require a landing distance of at least 30 to 40 m.
A light aircraft lands on the roof of a hotel in Dubai.Twitter capture @JoePomgliano
The aircraft built for Chepiela could theoretically land on a 27m wide helipad by reducing the braking distance to 21m. However, there was no light on the airport runway to help planes take off and land on the roof of the hotel, so landing was expected to be very difficult.
“It was not easy to land from 200 meters high,” said Chepiela in an interview with a foreign media outlet. “I had to trust my flying skills completely.”
“The difficulty of this flight was 11 out of 10,” he said. “It’s an honor to be a part of Dubai hotel history.”
Chafiella decided to become an aviator at the age of six when she followed her father to his first air show. He said he did odd jobs like cleaning planes at the airport and pulling planes out of hangars, and in return he got on board the plane with the pilots. He saved his pocket money, got a pilot’s license, and managed to become a professional aviator.
Donga.com reporter Jaeho Choi cjh1225@donga.com
