Dario Costa

Dario´s passion for flying was born shortly after he was on his first flight as a one-year-old boy. He had to wait a few years to be able to make his first solo flight when he was only 16 years old in Bologna (ITA).

After graduating from aviation high school he studied physics at university and later worked for an aviation engineering company.

Dario´s enthusiasm and his pathway to becoming a professional aerobatics (Red Bull Air Race) pilot arose when he saw his first Red Bull Air Race in 2003; so he started to learn the art of aerobatic flying ... and later taught it too. He was the youngest professional aerobatics instructor in Italy from 2008 until 2013.

In 2013 Dario moved to Salzburg to join the Red Bull Air Race Team as Flight Operations Manager and Development Pilot on the Extra 330LX and the Zivko Edge 540.

In 2015 he won the Italian Aerobatic Championship in the "Unlimited" category. Chasing his dream, in 2016 he was the first Italian to obtain the Red Bull Air Race License and became a Red Bull sportsman.

In November 2017 the great news for Dario: he is now an official Red Bull Air Race pilot (the first Italian ever!) who is racing within the Challenger class this season 2018!

Dario has flown for 20 years and has logged more than 4,500 hours, with more than half of these in high performance aerobatics. Dario´s favorite aircraft is the Zivko Edge 540, which he flies for Red Bull Air Race and freestyle aerobatics.