Airbus Perlan Mission II is getting ready for Argentina Campaign 2019! Yesterday the container which shipped from Minden, Nevada over two months ago was unloaded in El Calafate, Argentina. In Minden, it took more than 7 days to pack the container with the Perlan 2 glider, all the equipment and the necessary spares for safely operating at a remote location in Patagonia. Yesterday with the enthusastic team of 20 ready to go to work, it only took 70 minutes to unload!
Tribal Trucking knew the Perlan container had experienced many delays so they put two drivers in our truck for the fastest possible 3,000 km trip from Mendoza to El Calafate. Jorge Cordo was ready to operate his crane to make the download and positioning of the container easy. There’s a 1:20 minute video showing how they make it happen in El Calafate at the bottom of the blog.
As soon as we could, we pulled the trailer out and then pulled the fuselage out of the trailer. We had a list of priority tasks to accomplish prior to putting the wings on the Perlan 2. Later that afternoon the Airbus photo chase helicopter arrived at El Calafate. Now all the components are in place for a fabulous 2019 Campaign. As we shut down for the day, it was a beautiful sunset over Lago Argentino. We will spend the next 2-3 days checking and double checking all systems before a Functional Check Flight (FCF). Perlan Soars Soon! Jackie
For a 1:20 minute video of the unloading of the container see below or this link https://youtu.be/dQh3aLgZSbE
