Glider sets altitude flight record
Riding a vertical wind known as a ‘‘mountain wave’’ into the black sky of near space, an experimental glider has set a world record for high-altitude flight.
Its two American pilots were released over the Andes in southern Argentina and flew the Perlan 2 glider to 23,194m (76,100ft), the highest altitude reached by an unpowered, fixed-wing aircraft.
The record attempt was made in El Calafate, where for a brief window of time polar winds are being thrust upwards in vertical ‘‘mountain waves’’ that are capable of lifting an unpowered glider high into the upper atmosphere.
The team made a similar effort last year when the pilots, Jim Payne and Morgan Sandercock, flew the glider to 15,902m. Their latest trip surpassed the 22,475m achieved by the high-flying U2 jet spy aircraft.
Their eventual target is
25,929m, a record set by the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.
Their latest recordbreaking flight, completed this month, began with an hour-long tow to a height of
13,411m. The pilots were inside a pressurised cabin. Before entering the cockpit their footwear had been dried meticulously on what was a wet day at ground level to ensure that ice would not form on their soles.
Once released the glider, which weighs only 680kg, took an hour to pass 20116m.
‘‘The biggest impression is, it’s a long ways down from up here,’’ Payne told NBC News afterwards.
‘‘The horizon starts to have a curvature in it and the sky is getting darker as we climb. It’s a fantastic experience: once in a lifetime.’’
As well as setting altitude records, the flights are intended to gather data on high-altitude air currents, which would be difficult to collect on a powered flight.