As 2018 comes to a close, it's time to look back on an awesome, amazing, ultra successful year for Perlan Project. The Airbus Perlan Mission II achieved many first-ever milestones with our core Perlan team plus our around the globe supporters. Included in this blog...
As we celebrate the 2018 holidays Perlan Project has much to be greatful for. Thanks Laurent for getting the delightful card created. We appreciate all our friends, fans and supporters for joining our journey toward the edge of space in 2018. As our card says "may you...
On December 7, 8, and 9 the Perlan Team met in Minden to plan for 2019. We had a mix of informal and formal gatherings. The first event was a celebratory Holiday Party at Jim and Jackie's house for team and spouses. It was lovely to toast our accomplishments of 2018...
On November 26 the Royal Aeronautical Society awarded a bronze medal to the Perlan team. The awards and medals are recognized as “The most prestigious and long-standing awards in global aerospace honoring achievement, innovation and excellence.” The citation read,...
Perlan Project has had so many opportunities to share our story in presentations around the world. 3 in Germany, London, Alaska, California, Nevada. Plus there are already dates scheduled in 2019 at NASA Armstrong, in Maryland, and the Founder's Innovation at Oshkosh...
When you claim a world altitude record, you must be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you truly achieved your claimed altitude. Part of the rules require a pre- AND a post-flight calibration of your instruments. The Soaring Society of America contributed...
On November 2 after 12,700 miles over 45 days of travel the Perlan 2 arrived back home in Minden, Nevada. Each journey is unique in its logistical challenges. Sometimes the obstacles are paperwork, or insurance, or connections, or a blizzard closing Andes mountain...
The Society of Flight Test Engineers SFTE just celebrated its 50th birthday. At their October annual symposium in Savannah, Georgia the Perlan Team was highly honored with the Flight Test Team of the Year Award. Miguel wrote: Al Lawless and Miguel Iturmendi received...
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) has honored one of its own as Test Pilot of the Year with the Iven Kincheloe Award since 1958. This year Airbus Perlan Mission II Chief Pilot Jim Payne was selected for his flight testing of Perlan 2. "The achievement...
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) annual conference in Anaheim (Disneyland) was well attended this year. There was an after hours buffet dinner inside the park for SETP guests on Thursday evening, yet at 8 am Friday morning there was standing room only...
Argentine Organizational Supporters of Perlan Sandra Sandercock is Perlan’s liason with Argentina governmental organizations. She was busy in the months leading up to our time in Argentina setting up future meetings and completing the necessary documents. During the...
Loading Day and Last Team Dinner With Monday morning’s sunrise the Perlan was in the trailer, the container was ready for inspection, the Egrett was ready to start the long ferry home, the Tribal truck was at the airport and the crane was booked for the afternoon. For...
Farewell Argentina Multiple weather studies for the next week did not show stratospheric waves of sufficient strength to soar to high altitude. So we made the tough, bittersweet decision to pack up and return to Minden. In El Calafate in 2023 Airbus Perlan Mission II:...
For the third and final blog on Support Teams for Airbus Perlan Mission II we look at several team members who wear many hats. Of special note are the words from our 3 Perlan Interns and their observations about their past two months in El Calafate. Argentine Liason –...
Perlan Support Teams – Part Two As I said in Part One we are so fortunate to have such diverse talent on our team to support Airbus Perlan Mission II. This blog is to highlight each team member’s supporting role in their own words. Most have been on multiple Argentina...
Perlan Project Support Teams - Part One Airbus Perlan Mission II is incredibly fortunate to have a team of dedicated volunteer specialists. It takes a huge amount of work to put Perlan 2 into the air to safely hunt for stratospheric wave. These support teams are the...