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Steve Fossett and
Einar Enevoldson in full pressure suits. |
The Perlan Glider that less
than a year ago lifted Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson into the world
record books will be on display on AeroShell Square this year during EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2007. Both pilots will appear throughout the week with
the record-setting aircraft, plus will describe the record-breaking flight
during a special evening program Friday, July 27, at Theater on the Woods.
The ultra wide-winged (72 ft)
aircraft made the world’s first stratospheric glider flight on August
29, 2006, over El Calafate, Argentina, soaring to a glider-record altitude
of 50,699 feet. The previous altitude record was 49,009 feet, set in 1986
by Robert Harris in California City, California. The record-setting
soaring plane is an extensively modified German-built DG-505
high-performance sport glider.
“We took a German glider and
converted it to fly for altitude,” Fossett said. “The primary
conversion was to accommodate us flying in full pressure suits, the same
pressure suites used by SR-71 and U-2 pilots. We also had to change the
instrumentation so it would work at high altitudes in the thin air and
very cold temperatures (-55 degrees centigrade).”
The Perlan project proved the
theory that unpowered flight to a tremendous altitude could be achieved by
literally “surfing” from one mountain wave - high altitude updrafts -
to
another.
“There are two primary
things you can fly a glider on; you can fly it on thermals, where you
circle around in a thermal, or you can catch a mountain wave that is
generated,” he explained. “Glider flights have gone up to the
troposphere, perhaps even to the tropopause (boundary region between the
troposphere and the stratosphere) but this was the first time a glider has
clearly gone into the stratosphere.”
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The Perlan Glider
flying over New Zealand in 2002. |
While at Oshkosh, you can
catch the two pilots answering questions at the Perlan display, but you
won’t want to miss their presentation Friday night. “You might see me
show up in a full pressure suit!” Fossett said. “But we do have some
very interesting slides to show, and to tell how we pursued this project,
which was a five-year project.”
Fossett, EAA 562868 and a
member of the EAA President’s Council, is well known for his past world
record accomplishments. In 2005, he made the first solo, non-stop around
the world flight in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, then used that same
airplane to claim two absolute distance records in 2006. In 2004 Fossett
broke the existing around the world sailing record by six days. And in
2002, he became the first person to solo in a hot-air balloon (Spirit
of Freedom) around the world.
The weekend before EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh, Fossett will be inducted into the National Aviation
Hall of Fame’s class of 2007 in Dayton, Ohio. By rule, inductees are
honored for achievements made at least five years ago, so Fossett’s
induction is primarily based on his solo around the world balloon flight.
“This was actually quite a
surprise when I was named,” he said. “This is really a big honor for
me to be included as a permanent fixture in the National Aviation Hall of
Fame.”
Fossett will fly his Citation
10 to AirVenture this year, an aircraft that has also been on display on
AeroShell Square after its around the world, medium-sized airplane record
set in 2001-2002.
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The Perlan Glider
prepares to land. |
Apart from pursuing more
glider records in the future--“We’ll be very active in pursuing the
speed and distance records in gliders”--Fossett is currently involved in
a project to break the absolute land-speed record in a specially built,
jet-powered car that’s powered by an after-burning, 45,200 hp J-79
turbojet formerly fitted to an F-4 Phantom. He’s shooting to crack the
800 mph barrier and eclipse the current record of 763 mph set in 1997 by
Britain's Andy Green.
“We’ll get the car out for
its initial testing, interestingly, during AirVenture Oshkosh, and then in
September or October we hope to have the car up to speed and be able to
attempt the record,” he said. “And if I don’t get it this year,
there’s always next year.
“I’m not out of ideas, and
I expect to be pursuing new adventures for a long time to come.”
Listen
to a podcast with Steve Fossett
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