Jacqueline PaynePast Chairman of SSA’s Badge and Record CommitteeAuthor of Badge and Record book for soaring pilots-5 editionsOfficial Observer 30+ yearsUS soaring record Multi-Place Speed around 300 km TriangleAward winning math teacher and administratorSoaring and...
Miguel A. IturmendiMiguel A. Iturmendi is a native Spaniard, but has called Florida home for the last 20 years. Miguel holds degrees in Aeronautical Science, Space Studies and Flight Test and Evaluation, and graduated as a Test Pilot from the National Test Pilot...
Tim GardnerTim Gardner joined the Perlan project after meeting Miguel Iturmendi at the Minden Wave camp in 2013.He works full time for Hitachi Data Systems as a Software Architect designing and building large scale out storage systems. In his free time, he works...
Michael BataliaMichael joined the Perlan Project in the fall of 2009 after reading an article in Soaring which called for volunteers to participate. His contributions to the project have included assisting in the design and selection of the camera systems, the...
Elizabeth AustinDr. Elizabeth Austin, the articulate and dynamic President of WeatherExtreme Ltd, is one of the Nation’s leading authorities on Climate Change, Forensic and Aviation Meteorology, Mountain Weather, Cloud and Ice Physics, Stratrospheric Mountain Wave,...
Stephane FymatStéphane has 25 years of experience in the aerospace and computer industries. He began his career as an engineer for Aerojet-Electrosystems, now a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation. At Wang Laboratories, he was part of the founding team of its...
Ed WarnockEd has a BS in Aerospace Engineering (Honors and high Distinction) from the University of Arizona and an MA in Systems Theory. When he was working at the Naval Weapons Center at China Lake, Bertha Ryan gave him his first glider ride. He became a...
James DarcyJames Darcy is Airbus Vice President of Communications for the Americas. He leads a team of communicators responsible for the full range of internal and external communications tactics and strategy across North and Latin America, including all Airbus lines...
Jim PayneJim Payne started soaring at the Air Force Academy in 1971. At the Academy he made his first wave flight and was immediately hooked. His paper for his senior technical writing course was “A Report on High Altitude Sailplane Flight.” He graduated...
Teachers in Space Jim Kuhl and Chris Murphy visited Perlan in Minden May 4-7, just in time to help with our first check flight of 2018. Their focus was on the new cubesat housing built by Alec Guay for a grad level university class. (He got an “A” naturally.) Alec and...
We were ready for a Airbus Perlan Mission II Dress Rehearsal yesterday, before the snow arrived today. For the past few days the Perlan Team has fine tuned all glider systems and support teams. Tim Gardner and John Kregl replaced a control rod end in the wing. With...
Today was a great day since we got the Perlan 2 rigged in El Calafate! The day started with a beautiful sunrise. (However: Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning....) Although the hangar is super-sized we still need the doors open to rig the 84 foot wing span....
To prep the Airbus Perlan Mission II team for a successful Patagonia campaign in 2023 takes an incredible amount of exacting work in very cold conditions. There is no room for error. We've done this four previous years and we know to be thorough and meticulous. It...
Today featured several milestones for the start of '23 Campaign for Airbus Perlan Mission II. We began the frigid morning with a customs inspection of the container, which we passed with "flying colors." The customs seal was encased in ice from the 2,000 mile winter...
Finally in late July '23 the Airbus Perlan Mission II is gathering in El Calafate! It's winter in Patagonia and the Andes mountain roads have been closed many, many days. But the Perlan container arrived in early June to Mendoza to beat the worst of the winter...
When Airbus Perlan Mission II conducts a "high" tech campaign in remote Patagonia we must take everything we need plus any spares with us. We started packing in April. The glider trailer was designed to fit into a standard 40 foot shipping container - as long as we...