Since Minden has had an unusually wave-less Spring, the Perlan Project team has still made progress through ground testing. In temperatures of 60-70 F the cabin became sweltering. (Not so in 45 degrees at dawn.) But we know the tow in El Calafate will be about one...
In Mid-May Perlan 2 took to the Minden skies for test flights with tall tows. There had been no wave for weeks and we needed data from some of our upgrades. Doug Perrenod and Morgan Sandercock each flew with Jim Payne. It doesn't show well in photos, but Jim was sweat...
May 8, 2016 started with rain at Minden. By 11:00 the skies were clearing and aviation fun could be had. Tim Gardner flew a ride in his Pitts, SoaringNV got 2 two-place gliders out for several VIP rides. The delicious prime rib and salmon from Bella Vita were...
Despite the rainy conditions in the morning the Perlan team welcomed Airbus CEO Tom Enders and a large group of international reporters to the Tito Perlan hangar at Minden Tahoe airport on May 7, 2016. Earlier that morning Perlan CEO Ed Warnock, meterologist...
On April 29 the Perlan team successfully conducted the first airborne deployment test of Perlan's drogue parachute. (The BRS parachute is for lower altitude recovery/landing.) Minden airport ops provided fantastic support. Stefan from SoaringNV...
Teachers in Space arrived at the Perlan hangar on April 23. Liz Kennick, Joe Latrell, Chris Murphy, and Austin Reese pitched in immediately with a ground test being conducted for the glider. That's Austin's CubeSat experiment in his hands in the red case. In...
On Sunday April 24 Perlan Project did a static load test to verify the tail was strong enough to withstand the maximum opening shock from the rear drogue chute. The glider was held taunt between a snow plow in the front and from behind a Ford 250 pickup...
Minden Wave Camp sponsored by SoaringNV was held April 5 - 10, 2016. Perlan Project was well represented by team members Einar and Susana, Ed and Linda, Tim, Stewart, Morgan, Doug, Jim and Jackie. BJ Holden and Paul Carmel were able to see the glider for first...
On April 8, 2016 Flight Test Pilot and Engineer Miguel Iturmendi presented to the regional meeting of SETP in Florida. His description of the Perlan 2 glider, and the Perlan Project was of high interest to over 100 other Test Pilots. Turns out that several of the...
On March 21, 2016 the Airbus Perlan 2 pressurized sailplane made its first climbing wave flight. The all-volunteer Perlan Team has accomplished this critical milestone after an amazing amount of effort from the core team. For two weeks the guys in the hangar had...
On September 3, 2017 Airbus Perlan Mission II became a testament to what a volunteer team can accomplish. Perlan 2 flown by Jim Payne and Morgan Sandercock clawed their way to 52,172 feet GPS altitude with tenacious flying and strong support from the ground crew. The...
On September 1, 2017 Miguel thought he was going to talk to one classroom of students. Instead there was so much interest in Airbus Perlan Mission II that many teachers got together to use the civic auditorium again. There were over 150 middle school students to hear...
On August 23 and August 31 regional ANAC and EANA personnel respectively visited the Airbus Perlan Mission II team. ANAC is like FAA Aircraft and Pilot Certification in America. EANA is like Air Traffic Control in the USA. The presentation for ANAC was made by Jim and...
August 30, 2017 was Media Day for Airbus Perlan Mission II in El Calafate, Argentina. The journalists were interested in hearing the standard briefing with Jim in English and Miguel in Spanish, seeing the glider preparation and watching the launch from Runway 7. The...
August 29: Eleven years ago in El Calafate Einar Enevoldsen and Steve Fossett flew to the soaring world altitude record of 15,460 meters. Tago was a member of that first team and is with us in El Calafate. He shared his photos from that amazing day. We celebrate their...
On August 29, 2017, the eleventh anniversary of Einar and Steve's record flight, Airbus Perlan Mission II hosted an educational outreach presentation in El Calafate. Miguel Iturmendi was the lead for setting this up with 200 local students. It took him weeks to find a...