Perlan’s blog collects the thoughts and experiences of team members from the multiple disciplines needed to build and prepare the aircraft, plan the flight, and carry out the mission. Here, you’ll find insights from the designers, craftspeople, pilots, meteorologists, and support personnel who will make Perlan’s record ascents a reality. Perlan’s blog will be an opportunity to delve into the challenges and triumphs that travel with the giant sailplane.
The Perlan Project is going to make an important announcement about a new sponsor on the 28th of July at the EAA Airventure “Oshkosh” airshow. If you are going to be at the show, make sure you are in the main ramp area at 2pm on Monday.
Perlan pilots, Jim Payne and Dennis Tito had a fabulous wave flight on April 25, 2014. The photo shows a triple lenticular cloud over the Owens Valley. They took off and landed at Rosamond, CA, and flew almost 1,000 miles (1,614 km) traversing up and down the Owens Valley.
Sholto Hamilton “Dick” GEORGESON
May 7, 1922 – March 27, 2014
It is with a heavy heart that I write this blog posting. On Thursday March 27, 2014, the world lost a lovely man, Dick Georgeson. His full name was Sholto Hamilton Georgeson but everyone called him “Dick”.
Dick grew up in New Zealand and was a pioneer New Zealand glider pilot. He discovered the potential of the Makenzie Country (near the center of the south island of New Zealand) mountain wave system and even diagrammed it out on paper.
The Perlan Project has been invited to display our cockpit mockup at EAA AirVenture 2013. If you don’t know, this is the largest airshow in the world.
Look for us in the Innovation Pavilion (on the right as you walk down the central avenue.)
This is kind of last-minute, as we only heard about this opportunity two days ago and we have had to scramble to get things ready. Hopefully we will put on a good enough show to be invited back next year. Then we will have more time to plan and let our fans know.
El 6 de diciembre, el Proyecto Perlan hizo una presentación en Bariloche a la Fuerza Aérea Argentina, ANAC (Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil) y los pilotos de planeadores locales.
On the 6th of December, the Perlan Project made a presentation in Bariloche Argentina, to the Air Force, ANAC (civil aviation authority) and local glider pilots.
It isn’t a proper Christmas if you don’t get to put on a funny hat… Merry Christmas from the Perlan Project!
Yes, there really are snow-capped mountains behind the hill. You can almost guess at where they are in the photo.
After last year’s disastrous season at Bariloche being completely ruined by the Chilean volcano, we were told that this season was perfectly clear. Imagine our surprise at seeing this view on our way into Bariloche. A year of planning and hoping was washed out in an instant.
The pre-Perlan 2012 expedition has begun. We left a glider in El Calafate at the end of last season, so we need to go there to pick it up. This is getting to the middle of summer and everyone is wearing winter jackets. It’s cold and windy all the time.
“It was really windy this morning before you arrived. Now the wind has calmed down.” We also found some of the Perlan 1 equipment that was left here in 2006. There was a system of tripods used to get the shipping container off the truck without a crane.