Bulgarian military pilot Nikolay Kalaydzhiev set his sixth Guinness World Record by completing 1,021 takeoffs and landings in a circuit flight over the course of 14 hours and 28 minutes. He flew a small plane. For every hour of flight time, the pilot took a few-minute break in an ice bath, while the plane underwent technical checks and was refueled. What is the thrill of this achievement… Pilot Nikolay Kalaydzhiev spoke to FAKTI.
- Mr. Kalaidzhiev, how did the idea of attacking a record for 1000 takeoffs and landings in one day come about?
- My team and I want to organize an aviation event and a world record, with which we can once again motivate and inspire teenagers to believe in their skills, to set clear goals and to know that nothing is impossible. We wanted to do something so demanding of the pilot's skills that it would seem crazy to perform. I also wanted it to be something that for the first time in the world someone has dared to perform - that's how the idea of attacking a record for 1000 takeoffs and landings in one day came about.
- What is the plane you did it with? What is different about it?
- A very ordinary ultralight plane, the Fly Synthesis Storch. The landing gear of the plane is the thing that was the highlight, and the landing gear is a very ordinary-looking tubular structure without shock absorbers, which even more required me to be extremely precise and make very soft (in our language, greasy) landings in order for the landing gear of the plane to withstand it.
- What was the most difficult moment during the record-breaking flight and was there a moment when you doubted that you would succeed?
- No, there was not a moment when I doubted. If a person doubts, then this is the beginning of the fact that you may not be able to do what you are doing.
- What physical and mental preparation is necessary for such an ordeal, which lasts more than 13 hours?
- The physical training lasted a year and a half, and as for the mental state, I think that a person must have it in themselves – to be sustainable in such situations.
- What role did your team play in successfully setting your sixth Guinness World Record?
- The world record is not for me, it is for all of Bulgaria and especially for our team. I may be the performer, but they are the people without whom this could not become a reality. I would like to thank by name several dear people and my friends: Mr. Todor Ivandzhikov – my manager and chairman of the Bulgarian Aviation Industry Association; Desislava and Valko Pingelovi – PRs and my managers; Mr. Nikolay Rashkov and Mrs. Petya Ivanova – mayor and deputy mayor of the Gorna Oryahovitsa municipality, the entire management, everyone working in the municipality and especially Krasi, I don't know his last name; Mr. Klenovski – concessionaire, and Mr. Tarnitsov – member of the board of directors of Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport, Georgi Dimov, Krasi and all those working at the airport; To our partners - K&K Time Studio – Vostok Europe Bulgaria, LUKOIL Bulgaria and Dynaphos; Mr. Rumen Mladenov – “Zmeya”– aviation technician of the aircraft and fellow pilot; Official judges Tanya Obretenova (European champion in unmanned flying), Stefan Hristov, Emil Kalev and Emil Marinchev;
And everyone who came to support us at the event.
- You said that your dream is space. How close are you to realizing this goal and what are the next steps?
- A representative of the Space X corporation from Los Angeles was specially at the event to monitor my performance. The goal is getting closer, interesting things are coming.
- During the record, you used ice baths between stages. To what extent did this help your recovery and concentration?
- When the body is cooled, all the body's systems work better. I was cooling down because the temperature in the cabin at noon was 38 degrees.
- Which of all your world records so far has brought you the most satisfaction and why?
- The one for the fastest 1000 takeoffs and landings with a 360-degree turn before each landing individually in an airplane and the world record in which I performed 1111 consecutive 360-degree rolls – 4 hours and 45 minutes of non-stop rotation and overload.
- You mentioned that you are already planning a seventh world record. Can you tell me what the goal is…
- The goal will again be aimed at teenagers – to dream boldly.
- What did you feel at the moment of the last landing, when you realized that you had written your name in the history of aviation with another world record?
- What I felt first was that we did something that forever recorded Bulgaria in world aviation history, because we are the first to complete 1000 takeoffs and landings with a 360-degree turn before each landing individually with an airplane, and we may be the only ones. I wish all your readers to experience this joy that we experienced with our entire team – this is the meaning of life.