Jim Payne

Jim 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 Outstanding Cadet in Soaring in 1974. He flew the F-4, F-5 (Top Gun Aggressor), F-16, and F-16XL among other aircraft for the Air Force. Jim was the first pilot selected to pioneer the Air Force Institute of Technology master’s with a follow-on assignment to AF Test Pilot School. In 1983 Jim earned his Gold and Diamond Altitude legs in a SGS 1-26 in the Tehachapi wave. When he was assigned to the staff at the US Air Force Test Pilot School he was part of the Soar Eagle Project. The team equipped a Grob 103 with a pressure suit system. Soaring in this sailplane Jim earned a Triple Lennie Pin for a flight to 42,200 feet. With the advent of GPS flight recorders, Jim pioneered wave speed records.

Jim taught Flight Test at the United States Air Force Academy. When he could not find a good text book to use, he wrote his own. He instilled a love of flying and leadership into the next generation of AF commanders. Jim coached the USAFA cross country soaring team through several camps and contests. Jim managed the US International Soaring team for 5 World Championships.  He was the Open Class Pilot in the South African World Championships in 2001. Jim advised Einar on high altitude soaring flights before Perlan 1.

After Jim retired from the AF he consulted for NASA and then managed Northrop  Grumman’s Global Hawk multi-million dollar program for eight years. He moved to Northrop’s Firebird program and flew first flight before retiring (again). He now works full time volunteering as Chairman and Chief Pilot for Perlan Project where he developed and led the test program.

Jim flew first flight in the Nixus fly by wire open class sailplane and subsequently set seven records in the Nixus. He flew the experimental Magpie making the first aerial hookups to a tow rope in a glider where he was 8 for 8 attempts. Jim piloted the one of a kind hydrogen powered jet glider Blue Condor for contrail testing above 30,000 feet in 2024.

Jim has set 17 World Records and over 100 National Records. His highest glider flight is in the Perlan 2 at 76,124 feet pressure altitude. His longest glider flight is 2,907 km with an additional uncounted return home 120 km leg. His fastest glider flight record is 305 kph. He was awarded the FAI Lillenthal Medal in 2001 and SSA’s Eaton Trophy in 2003. In 2008 Jim was inducted into the Soaring Hall of Fame. In 2018 Jim was awarded the Kinchloe Trophy as top Test Pilot of the year from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He has been OLC World Distance Champion 6 times and Speed Champion 9 times.

Jim joined the Minden Soaring Club in 2020 and has coached them to 5 consecutive World OLC Club League Championships.