Miguel Iturmendi has been exploring the stratosphere and beyond in the Perlan 2 sailplane and his Helios Horizon electrically-launched craft. He flew in the Perlan 2 sailplane in 2018 to over 65,000 feet, and more recently took part in a demonstration flight in that aircraft. His ongoing efforts with the Horizon are increasing altitude records for electric aircraft. He lives in Florida, where he leads the Helios Horizon project and works on the aircraft, a modified Pipistrel Taurus electric motorglider. For record flights, he takes the craft to Minden, Nevada, where the Perlan 2 resides when it is in the States. The most recent flights took place near Bishop, California, a location for many historic soaring flights. The spring test campaign demonstrated several flights between 17,500 and 24,000 feet on battery power. The team never used more than 60 percent of the total pack’s energy, indicating future flights could go higher. (After all, you have a sailplane in which you …
