Presented Annually By The Society Of Experimental Test Pilots

The Society of Experimental Test Pilots has announced that Perlan Project Pilot Jim “JP” Payne, was selected for the Iven Kincheloe Award on Saturday to recognize his outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing. It is the top award presented by the organization.

The perpetual Kincheloe trophy is on permanent display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Ignacio “Nacho” Lombo, chief test pilot of Airbus Defense and Space, was also inducted as a 2018 Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Last month, the Airbus Perlan Mission II team, a nonprofit sponsored by Airbus and based out of Nevada, set a new world aviation altitude record on Sept. 2 by soaring a glider to over 76,000 feet above the Andes in Argentina.

The Airbus Perlan Mission II wrapped up its 2018 flying season in mid-September, when the region's stratospheric mountain waves in the southern hemisphere begin to die down, and the all-volunteer Perlan Project team returned from Patagonia to homes in the U.S. and around the world.

(Source: SETP news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.setp.org