First Perlan Glider High Altitude Attempt Busts | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.10.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Sat, Mar 15, 2003

First Perlan Glider High Altitude Attempt Busts

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

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Aviat A1

Airplane Bounced About 3 Ft Then Touched Back Down And Then, With No Brakes Applied, The Airplane Began Veering To The Left Analysis: The pilot entered the airport traffic pattern >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.08.25)

Aero Linx: British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) The primary focus within all aviation activity is SAFETY. In all aspects of our sport SAFETY must come first, whether it b>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Fly Corvair’s Reliable Engine Alternative

From SnF25 (YouTube Edition): William Wynne Builds Practical Aircraft Engines on the Corvair Platform Seeking an affordable alternative to the traditional aircraft engine options, >[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: CiES Fuel-Quantity and e-Throttle Systems Praised

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Bridge of CiES CiES Inc. is a Bend, Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of modular embedded aircraft systems and sensors. The company’s fuel-l>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC