Dario Costa (born 9 May 1980, Manchester, United Kingdom) born to an Iranian mother and an Italian father, is a professional race and stunt pilot, aerobatic performer, paradropping pilot, author of the book “il Tunnel Perfetto” and is currently writing his second scientific publication.
Dario is the first ever Italian to qualify, to compete and to win in the Red Bull Air Race. Dario lives in Salzburg, Austria since 2013 and is mainly known for over 25 world-first flying stunts and world records including his childhood dream to take-off and fly inside a tunnel which he turned into reality on 4th September 2021 becoming the first ever to fly an airplane through a tunnel, to take-off from inside a tunnel and flying through two tunnels. with a race plane at an average of 303,8 km/h on an Istanbul highway taking off from inside another tunnel back in 2021 which had set a total of 5 world first records in a single 43,44 seconds flight.
His parents fled from Iranian revolution in 1979 and Dario spent his early childhood traveling across North Africa and Europe building up his passion for flying, then, at the age of six, moved to Bologna, where he started to learn piloting while at high school where after formal flight training he did his first solo flight at the age of 16 in 1996. Earned his living initially as gardener, swimming pool cleaner, postman and later on as theoretical instructor at his flying club and former high school enabling him few years later, after winning a scholarship and flying as safety pilot, working as hangar boy and teaching, to obtain his commercial pilot, flight instructor and aerobatic flight-instructor qualifications.
Teaching as the youngest aerobatic instructor in Italy and competing in aerobatics, Dario evolved with the sport and in 2011, while still teaching full-time, was contest director of the 2011 FAI World Aerobatic Championships and became Chief Flight and Ground Instructor at the biggest Italian flight school obtaining in the meantime also the Master CFI-Aerobatics US qualification.
In October 2013, Costa joined the Red Bull Air Race World Championship as flight operations manager, development and ferry pilot with the goal to be racing soon.
In 2017 became a Red Bull Athlete to push boundaries of aviation and setting so far over 25 world’s first pioneering records from flying formation aerobatics with an helicopter flown by Mirko Flaim to flying a slalom in between fast moving America’s Cup boats or in sync with a high cliff diver or a dancer or a freestyle skier, or flying an F1 and a MotoGp and the steeper Downhill ski track or flying low level aerobatics in between Namibian dunes or landing on and taking-off from a moving train in February 2026.
In 2024 Dario became the first Italian and the youngest ever to win the “Bob Hoover – Freedom of Flight Award”.
