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."

FMI: www.Perlanproject.com