![]() Taking advantage of a little-known meteorological phenomenon called the Stratospheric Polar Night Jet, Perlan 2’s pilots hope to climb to 90,000ft and above to conduct scientific research. The glider’s registration, N901EE, is a nod to the glider’s goal of being the first to fly at 90,000ft while also recognising the team’s founder and board chair – aviation legend Einar Enevoldson.Īll going according to plan, the record-setting altitude flights will take place in El Calafate, Argentina in mid-2016 during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter season. There, the team plans to test all of Perlan 2’s systems at altitudes upwards of 40,000ft, flying into the famous Sierra Wave. Ground vibration testing will then take place in San Diego, California, and the next test flights for the glider will begin in December 2015, in Minden, Nevada. Perlan 2 will now return to the build process, to be fitted with its pressurisation and crew-rebreather systems. Experimental Glider to Attempt Record-Breaking Flight Into Space The Perlan Project hopes to ride Patagonia’s ferocious mountain winds into aviation history. This differs from a conventional glider’s jettisonable canopy that allows for pilots to egress and parachute to safety. The pressurised Perlan 2 has plug hatches, so it is equipped with a ballistic parachute system that the crew can deploy in the case of an emergency. Perlan 2 was flown in a basic configuration, equipped with flight instruments, radio and transponder as well as an LX-9000 gliding navigation system. In order to simulate the view from the porthole-like windows of Perlan 2, the front canopy of the DG-1001 was masked to match the new glider’s SpaceShipOne-like design. Payne flew a rehearsal of Perlan 2’s first flight profile on 20 September, in fellow Perlan team member Dennis Tito’s DG Flugzeugbau DG-1001M glider. It’s very stable in pitch, and has slightly high stick forces, which you’d expect in a big open class airplane.” “It flies like a big open class sailplane, which means it doesn’t roll very fast, but that’s the characteristic you have in the long wings. “It’s a beautiful flying airplane it was a lot of fun today,” says Payne. ![]() Other test manoeuvers included approach to stall, trim and air brake checks, and at the end of the 20 minute descent, the final pattern and landing behavior of the 25.6m (84ft) wingspan glider. After releasing from the tow plane at an altitude of 5,000ft, the Perlan 2’s basic stability was tested and control checks were done. Launching early in the morning 23 September from the Redmond Municipal Airport in Redmond, Oregon, chief pilot Jim Payne and team pilot and project manager Morgan Sandercock were towed aloft by a Piper Pawnee towplane.ĭuring a 12-minute climb, Payne checked the carbon-fibre glider’s control harmony and basic towing qualities. The Airbus Perlan Mission II is a major step closer to the goal of sustained, piloted flight at 90,000ft following the successful first flight of the Perlan 2 experimental glider. A video showing the important steps of Perlan 2 assembly is available on PerlanProject youtube channel at A quick-time fun version of the rigging video is available at Videos edited by Tim Davis Media.Perlan 2 on its first flight, just after releasing from the Piper Pawnee towplane. Two of our interns Alec Guay and Loris Gliner show how the wings line up next to the fuselage. Applause is appreciated at the end of the process. As always with any glider, the alignment of the two wings is fine tuned and then the 2 greased spar pins are inserted into the alligned holes through both spar stubs. The pressurized glider flew to the edge of space to an altitude of an astonishing 76,000 ft. Then the wing rigger is switched to the second (right) wing. The Airbus Perlan 2 aircraft set a new gliding altitude world record recently. The gently curved spar stub of the heavy wing needs to be eyeballed in as it enters the fuselage opening. We apply special grease between metal parts that won’t freeze at the extremely low (-90F) temps that we have already seen. The photos and video are in the Aero Club Lago Argentino hangar at the El Calafate airport. We have created our own heavy-duty rigging aids like metal rolling saw horses modified by Greg Scates, a wing-rigger with air jack for fine tuned adjustments made by Tom Stowers, and a tail dolly made by Silvio Ricardi. ![]() ![]() We pull out the fuselage and each wing from the special built Cobra trailer. The one-of-a-kind pressurized glider Perlan 2 is assembled similar to a normal large two-place glider.
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