The Windward Performance worskhop in Bend, Oregon is currently working on the fuselage that will be used for destructive testing. This is the one that has to have all of the structural details of the final aeroplane but it will be over-pressurised until is bursts....
Argentina seems to have a lot of speed bumps. They have all kinds. Big ones, sharp ones, little ones, bolt-ons and more. Each time we have driven over one, Tago has said that Esquel has the worst speed bump. The “Stevebump.”“Oh no, that’s not a big bump. You should...
We are gathering lots of information for future Perlan expeditions. We have taken a few side trips to inspect different airfields that we might use in the future. El Maiten (Photo #2) looks like it might be a useful place to outland. The runway surface is very soft,...
The Perlan Project 2011 expedition to Argentina has already had some great results in the Andes Wave. On a non-wave day, we have some time to shoot a few videos. Check out this video of the DG1001m self-launcher. Watch the video on YouTube here.
This past week, I am spending time with Tago. Tago was employed by Steve Fossett almost from the first record attempt. He originally got invloved with the balloon circumnavigation because Tago’s home town (Mendoza) was selected by Steve as the perfect launch point...
Coming from Australia and having flown in the United States, I am used to seeing “big” skies. The kinds of places where multi-terawatts of energy are going up into the clouds and just begging for a glider to siphon off a few kilowatts. [I will always remember seeing...
The Perlan Project has held its major team meeting for the year, in the Bend, Oregon workshop where the new glider is under construction. The team members got together to see the progress in the workshop and make some important decisions for the next steps. The most...
Yesterday at Windward Performance a TV crew came out to prepare a piece on the Perlan Project. They shot video of the construction process Interviewed Greg and his folks Did a phone interview with Dennis Interviewed Ed For the first time the closeout tooling for the...
The Perlan build process is now up to full speed with many molds, jigs and parts under construction together. The team in the workshop is now more than twenty people. This recent photo doesn’t even show them all!
This two-minute video explains a little bit about the rebreather system we are planning to use and why it is so useful to us. Watch the video on YouTube here.
It was a brief high altitude Argentine wave season with no good weather during expected prime time of August and September. But Airbus Perlan Mission II made the most of what weak wave was available. We learned an incredible amount about the support available in...
On September 21, 2016, Airbus Perlan Mission II hosted a media day in El Calafate, Argentina. We also hosted a "Battle of the Forecasts" for weather. But Jim Payne and Tim Gardner decided to take a tow to see what lift they could find. And it proved the right choice!...
We had a chance for weak wave on Septermber 18. Team Perlan wanted to test some of Morgan's extensive software updates for flutter testing, Life Support Systems Display (LSSD), and telemetry. We also wanted a larger beta testing of the Virtual Cockpit software by...
On 9-16 the helicopter from Ushuaia arrived. The R-44 copter has less than 10 hours on it. We took advantage of a calm, cool evening for a photo shoot. The clarity of the light is magnificient and sunset gives that warm glow along the leading edge of the wing. It...
On September 15-16 representatives from Comodoro and Buenos Aires ENAC and ANAC came to El Calafate to see the Perlan 2. Empressa Argentina Navegacion Aerea (similar to ATC) is a brand new agency in Argentina which started August 1. Walter Salama, Director of...
On September 14 and 16 Perlan Project hosted several classes of local high school age students from El Calafate. Previously Perlan Project had gone to the classrooms. Now they came to the hangar. This was organized by Liz Kennick, president of Teachers in Space. She...