On a daily basis, Łukasz Czepiela is the captain of a cruise airbus but last Tuesday in Dubai was definitely a more spectacular day in his professional career. The Polish pilot was the first in the world to land a plane on top of a skyscraper.
The famous helipad is located on top of the 56-story Burj Al Arab hotel.
Łukasz Czepiela performed the take-off in a manner typical for bush pilots flying in difficult terrain. “I had to trust my abilities as much as possible. There was no room for mistakes.”
“I am very happy because I have completed the most difficult project in my career. I had to land about 7 meters further from the edge of the ‘landing pad’ so as not to hit the helipad.”,
says Łukasz Czepiela just after a spectacular feat that will go down in the history of world aviation.
The Polish pilot noted that “he actually had only 20 meters to land safely. The biggest challenge for me, however, was the height and what it entailed. More than 200 meters above sea level, where there are no clear reference points around, it’s quite other than landing on the ground. I had to use a completely different approach technique and trust my skills as much as possible”.