Blog

Perlan’s blog collects the thoughts and experiences of team members from the multiple disciplines needed to build and prepare the aircraft, plan the flight, and carry out the mission. Here, you’ll find insights from the designers, craftspeople, pilots, meteorologists, and support personnel who will make Perlan’s record ascents a reality. Perlan’s blog will be an opportunity to delve into the challenges and triumphs that travel with the giant sailplane.

Perlan 2 Upgrades

From January through April 2017 the Perlan team kept a low profile while working on upgrades for the Perlan 2. Here's a partial list of improvements that are ready for Campaign Two in Argentina. Probably most significant is the ability to seal the cabin for pressurization while in flight. This allows air circulation with cooling and drier air during the hour-long tow from El Calafate. Now the desiccants can easily keep up with the increased humidity from two pilots wearing insulated cold weather flight suits. Jim developed the concept and Andrew Oullet designed the hardware. John Kregl from Automated Metals manufactured the parts for the new system, and Greg Scates installed and reinforced the new latches. Hangar testing went very well. The good news is that it worked flawlessly on the first test flight from Minden.

Perlan 2 Arrives in Argentina

For 2017 the Perlan Project shipping to Argentina has been much smoother than last year. The trailer inside the container departed Minden on May 16. That was one day behind schedule. It loaded unto a Hamburg Sud vessel out of Long Beach with 5 hours to spare. It took a late gate exemption to make that cut off. Thanks to Claudia Ortiz of A.Hartrodt we did make the sailing.

The vessel went to Mexico where it transshiped to a different vessel headed to Chile. Since that second boat was 2 days ahead of original schedule we were not sure our container made it onto the new vessel. But it did, with 2 hours to spare! That is cutting it way too close for my mental health. But Hamburg Sud was awesome ensuring that our baby was well cared for every step of the way. They are great people to work with. You want to do business with a company that cares for its customers.