Airbus Perlan 2 Chief Pilot Giving Presentations on Tuesday During AirVenture
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Photo by Art Eichmann
July 3, 2019 - Jim Payne, Airbus Perlan 2 chief pilot, will be giving two presentations during "An Evening With Innovators" featuring the Founder's Innovation Prize on Tuesday night during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019. The first will come before the Founder's Innovation Prize kicks off at 7 p.m., and the second is set to take place while the judges are behind the scenes deliberating. The presentations are as follows:
Perlan Project Soars to Flight Level 761
At AirVenture 2014 Airbus announced its sponsorship of the Perlan project. One year later the completed Perlan 2 sailplane was displayed at AirVenture 2015. In 2017 and 2018 the Perlan 2 set four new glider world altitude records. The highest was FL 761 (74,334 feet GPS altitude) on September 2, 2018. Jim Payne will provide an overview of the Perlan 2 and describe what it was like to fly the highest ever subsonic, sustained, manned flight with or without an engine.
"Unobtainium:" The Future of Flight
Bernoulli was wrong; aircraft fly because of money. Going forward, the nature of manned flight will be determined by economics. Advances in materials, automated manufacturing, propulsion, and avionics have the potential to reduce the cost of flying. Jim will explore the intriguing possibilities that have excellent potential.
To learn more about the Airbus Perlan Mission II, check out our interview with Jim on EAA's The Green Dot podcast.
