Watch a Real-Life Death Star Trench Run

Pilot Péter Besenyei squeezes his Corvus Racer along Greece’s Corinth Canal.

15/07/01

TOP SPEED

He may not have had Tie Fighters on his tail, but Péter Besenyei's run through the Corinth Canal in Greece looked pretty hairy. Besenyei is a founding member of Red Bull Air Race and has peformed some daring maneuvers, like flying upside-down a few meters above the River Danube in Budapest. But squeezing his Corvus Racer into the Corinth Canal must have tested the 57-year-old Hungarian's nerve.

The Corinth Canal, linking the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean, might be more than four miles long, but it's scarcely 70 feet wide at its base, and even farther up its sloping walls it's a tight fit for a Corvus Racer, which has a 30-feet wingspan and can travel at up to 280 mph. Watch the intense video below to get a sense of the forces and distances involved -- and Besenyei's flying skills.

"[There was] a lot of turbulence, and the wind changing very quickly. Even the birds inside, they are suffering," said Besenyei.

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