Perlan 2 is back in the air! It was a beautiful flight with an excellent shake-down performance.
The Perlan team gather at 6:30 this morning to add the final touches to the Perlan 2 pre-flight. We were joined by Teachers in Space Jim Kuhl and Chris Murphy who handled the Cube Sats and helped any way they could. Ground Ops was Stewart Tattersall, Brad Jackson and Jackie Payne. Pilots Jim Payne and Tim Gardner loaded up and donned the masks before a successful pre-pressurization test. We towed out to runway 34 for takeoff behind Silvio Ricardi in SoaringNV’s Pawnee. All went well for this “back in the saddle” flight. We had a few telemetry drops, which messed up the 5 minute average data, but instant data was good. The wind had done a complete switch (as forecast) so they landed on Runway 16. Beautiful take-off and landing; so good to see Perlan 2 airborne again! Thanks to Mike Harbinson for some photos showing the scenic Minden mountains. I created a 2 minute video with music from glider pilot Ed Kilbourne “The Start of the Season.” Thanks Ed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_McV-fUc2bs Perlan Soars! Jackie
