Steve Fossett, the first man to fly solo round the world in a balloon, is planning a world gliding altitude record attempt in New Zealand. The Perlan Project (see http://www.firnspiegel.com/perlan/), based in Omarama, New Zealand, is planning a two-stage attack on the world gliding altitude record (at present held by Robert R. Harris, USA, at 14,938m) using stratospheric mountain waves. In phase 1, Fossett and co-pilot Einar Enevoldson plan to reach 62,000 feet (19,000 m) wearing pressure suits in an unpressurized glieder (DG 505). The second part of the plan is to got to 100,000 feet (30,000 m) in a pressurized glider. For more details an progress reports see the above web site.

118.2 km/h is the new speed over a triangular course in the ultralight glider class. This record was set by the Slovenian pilot Bostjan Pristavec in Lesce-Bled (Slovenia) with a new glider : the Apis WR built in this country by Albastar.

This glider has a wingspan of 13 meters and a gliding ratio of 36.7 at 86 km/h. Excellent conditions for high speed flying on the ridge of Karavanke mountains (between Slovenia and Austria) by strong south west wind have been since many years the reason for high daily speeds on Slovenian national Championships. And in 1999, Mihael Thaler set the first World speed record of this area.

Links :
- Ultralight Glider World Records
- The Bled area

Klaus Ohlmann from Germany completed on 26 November a Free Distance gliding flight with three turn points over Argentina for which he is claiming a world record. The performance achieved, 2459 km, is the longest ever distance flight made with a glider.

A Stemme motorglider was used, with engine stopped for the performance part of the flight as required by the FAI rules for gliders. It took the pilot around 14 hours to complete his circuit at an average speed of about 178 km/h. More information will be made available after FAI has received the documentation supporting this record claim.

Link:
- Gliding World Records page

Badges and Diplomas
Championships
Documents
Flight Experiences
GNSS Flight Recorders
Inside IGC
Meetings
World Pilot Rankings
World Records

November 2003
August 2003
July 2003
May 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
May 2002
April 2002
January 2002
October 2001
August 2001
May 2001
April 2001
February 2001
January 2001
November 2000
September 2000
August 2000
June 2000
May 2000
March 2000