On March 13th, 2023, world-renowned Red Bull aerobatics pilot, Luke Czepeila, became the first human to ever land an airplane atop the helipad of the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel in Dubai. In today's episode, Luke and I have a chat about his career in flying, the death defying feat he accomplished two months ago in Dubai and how flying became a passion of his.
Luke and his team of experts worked endlessly for two years preparing for the stunt in Dubai. As you will hear in this episode, Luke had more than 600 practice landings at their training facility in the United States and a special custom made airplane was built to help Luke be able to attempt this challenge.
You will hear all about this experience, the training that went into it, and learn more about the mindset that Luke has for this type of flying. He is a remarkable person driven to do big things in his life. He has a great story of persistence, commitment, dedication, and resilience.
Added to this, Luke has put in the time to be the very best in the world at his craft, he’s won Red Bull world championships and has been on the podium 19 other times in these events. His extreme discipline is evident in everything that he does in life….including being a airbus commercial pilot and captain of one of Europe’s most renowned airlines….
When I think of Luke’s story, I think of a quote from Michael Jordan when it comes to fear. This is what Michael said:
"I’ve never been afraid …..obviously I’ve been nervous, but afraid means you’re not confident in your skills but I have total confidence in my skills, so I’m not afraid because I have fully prepared for each moment I face."
Luke and I talked about the role of fear when it comes to the extreme styles of flying he does and his response was that he is always extremely prepared for everything he does and with this preparation comes the belief and confidence needed to do the things he does.
He is goal-oriented, deeply disciplined, and methodical in his approach to life and work and this is one of the main reasons why he has achieved the status he has in the world of flying.
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you haven’t seen the recent landing he made atop the hotel in Dubai, please check it out. I put a link to this video in the show notes of today’s episode.
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Watch Luke's historic landing atop Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Hotel here