Sat, Mar 15, 2003
Flight Shortened By Transponder Failure
Pilots Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson took the
Perlan high-altitude research glider on its first 2003 probe of the
'mountain wave' meteorological phenomena this afternoon, in their
attempt on the 49,009' World Glider Altitude Record set in 1986 by
Bob Harris, but had to cut short the planned 5 hour mission over
the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range after only 1 hour when the
transponder - which automatically transmits the aircraft's altitude
- failed to accurately report to the ground.
ATC Said "No."
Although not a safety issue on board the glider, without
accurate transponder reporting the pair could not get permission
from Air Traffic Control to continue above 18,000'. Their flight
path today was 40 miles N of California City, just NW of Inyokern,
about 50 miles S of Mt Whitney - taking them over areas under the
authority of Edwards Air Force Base.
Describing The Symptoms
"We're puzzling over this," said Fossett. "We've got to try to
fix this so we can take advantage of the excellent conditions
forecast over the weekend. We may be back as early as (Saturday)
morning, but I'm not yet ready to declare a record attempt. We'll
need to trouble-shoot the device now and do a test flight without
pressure suits first to check the system." Fossett had no
prediction on how long that process would take.
NASA forecaster Ed Teets predicted good weather for the
remainder of the weekend. "The wave is good - and getting better
all through the weekend."
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