Near Aircraft-Type Record Of 23,435

Pipistrel's Greek distributor Michail Anastasiou recently flew a Tarus Motor Glider to an altitude of 6,927 meters, or 22,726 feet, which is near the world record for a two-place Ultralight, and the highest that a Taurus has ever flown.

Anastasiou and his co-pilot ... identified only as "Thanos" ... took advantage of mountain wave conditions common in Greece this time of the year to reach the near-record altitude, which did set a record for the Taurus airplane.

Anastasiou writes on the Pipistrel blog " The winds are constant at 85 km/hr. Using the “see-you” history we locate the sweet spot of the wave and return to it. It gave us a few extra meters. Finally, the Taurus is sitting at 6,841 meters ( 22,444 feet) !

"Smooth flight and much less aerodynamic noise in the cockpit as the air density is lesser. Our breathing condensation formed some nice ice crystals on the top and the side of the canopy. Temperature: -16°C. The airliners cruising above at FL300 plus look so close now!

"It’s time to use the altitude for some cross-country kilometers. Heading south-eastbound the ground speed was showing more than 270km/hr. Nice! But we will be crawling on the way back… Who cares! We just achieved the new height mark for the Taurus!

"The rest is just fun!"

After landing, Anastasiou writes "I ran to fetch my computer to analyze the flight: The final altitude reached was 6,927 meters (22,726 feet)! 2nd of February of 2013 was a really good day for us!"

(Image provided by Pipistrel)

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