Archive for April, 2009

For three separate reasons, the three Perlan Project principals are all going to be at the Red Bull Air Race in San Diego next weekend.  See the Red Bull Air Race web site for information about the race.

Since we each have different reasons for going, we will be barracking for different pilots in the race.  Depending on who wins, the mood in the Perlan camp could get a bit frosty.  The pilots we are mainly watching are Mike Goulian and Matt Hall, the rookie from Australia.  Matt is still a member at the Hunter Valley Gliding club, where he first learned to fly gliders and ultralights.

Matt Hall Practicing his Red Bull manouvres at The Hunter Valley gliding Club

The fuselage has been lofted (again.)  I think the term originates from boatbuilding, where the pattern for a new boat was first created in the sailmaker’s loft.  “Lofting” has a special meaning to an engineer because it is the process whereby lines on a plan are transformed into curves in three dimensions. 

The net result for the Perlan is almost indistinguishable from the earlier design.  The fuselage is slightly thicker in the tail boom area and the horizontal tail is moved slightly.  However all of this has a significant effect on the 3D intersections of the wings and tail, so this would be a gigantic change if we were working on a physical model such as a clay model.