Only 2 days after Airbus Perlan Mission II claimed a new world record, the polar night jet and mountain waves alligned again on 28 August 2018. When we arrived at the hangar we had a unpleasant surprise that the entire airport was without electricity. But Tago worked...
After 5 weeks of preparation in El Calafate and 2 weeks of practice flying the Perlan 2, Airbus Perlan Mission II set a new unofficial World Record for Absolute Altitude without an engine of 60,669 feet (18,492 meters) measured by GPS. Normally aviation altitude is...
On August 22 we awoke to an email announcement that the September 3, 2017 high altitude flight had been approved by the FAI as a Soaring World Record. This validated the US National Record awarded in March by the NAA for Absolute Altitude of 52,221 feet or 15,917...
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...
Flight #74 – Weak Wave On August 30, 2023 the forecast wave conditions had improved marginally from dismal to merely difficult. But the support teams had worked hard on various squawks from the previous flight. Perlan 2’s wings were removed to check the full travel...