Warnock Helps Take Gliders to Record-Breaking Heights

Cover of July 2016 Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine featuring the Perlan glider

The current altitude record for level flight by a piloted aircraft is just over 85,000 feet, but the Perlan Project hopes to take their sailplane to 90,000 feet this summer, using stratospheric mountain waves near the Antarctic polar vortex.

University of Arizona alumnus Ed Warnock is helping the Perlan Project reach those heights. The 1968 graduate of UA's aerospace engineering program currently serves as the nonprofit's CEO.

Read more about the project, and Warnock's work, in the cover story of the July issue of Smithsonian Air & Space magazine.