Where are the Çatalca Tunnels?
Turkey, europe
243 km
511 m
moderate
Year-round
Just outside of Istanbul, Turkey, you'll find the Çatalca Tunnels, a pair of totally cool highway tunnels that made history!
Where? They're smack-dab in Istanbul Province, in a central spot within the Marmara Region, on the eastern side of Turkey.
These tunnels are completely paved and part of the Otoyol 7 (O-7) motorway, also called the Northern Marmara Highway. One tunnel is 549 meters (1,801 ft) long, and the other is 511 meters (1,677 ft). The toll highway itself is a whopping 243 km long between the Kınalı and Akyazı junctions, boasting eight lanes and bypassing Istanbul to the north.
These tunnels are famous because an Italian pilot named Dario Costa completed a crazy feat: flying an airplane through *two* tunnels!
Nobody had *ever* done that before. This was a complicated challenge he dreamed of for years, but he totally nailed it. It took him just 43.44 seconds, hitting average speeds of 245 kph and a top speed of 303.08 km/h (188.07 mph) in the second tunnel.
The flight was just 2.26 km, but it required insane precision, starting in one tunnel, going through a short stretch of open highway, and then diving into the second tunnel.
Over a year of prep and 40+ people went into making this record-breaking flight a reality!
The most critical moment? When Costa had to navigate the plane through a 360m gap between the tunnels, battling crosswinds. He totally crushed it and even did a loop afterwards!
Road Details
- Country
- Turkey
- Continent
- europe
- Length
- 243 km
- Max Elevation
- 511 m
- Difficulty
- moderate
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