Home  Press Releases General Kite Plane to Attempt 40,000’ World Altitude Record!
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Kite Plane to Attempt 40,000’ World Altitude Record! |
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Sunday, 15 October 2006 |
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The Southwestern Aerotrekking Academy, (SAA) which recently made headlines for introducing aerotrekking to the United States, has now entered the running for a second distinction—sponsoring a new world altitude record of 40,000’ for weight-shift control Light Sport Aircraft. 
“We are currently training at 15,000,” SAA’s test pilot Kristof Cappoen said, pulling off his helmet, the same used by the United States Air Force, “and we’ll be working our way higher.” The group expects to easily pass the 31,000’ record now held by the French, pushing through 40,000’ and perhaps even higher. Cappoen and SAA engineers are busying calculating the modifications required for the steel and carbon-fiber, Rotax-powered Tanarg kite wing LSA to make the record setting flight. Cappoen, an experienced fixed wing pilot, also has to learn a variety of new skills, from identifying air patterns to staying out of the jet stream, challenges not normally faced by the heavier aircraft he’s accustomed to flying. He expects to break the 40,000’ mark by early summer of next year. “I also have to work out and lose about 40-50 pounds,” Kristof Cappoen rolls his eyes before smiling. It’s not that he’s overweight or out of shape, but merely a means to allow for the weight of essential equipment to be loaded onto his kite plane for the recording breaking flight. Before finding himself in the role of test pilot for SAA, Cappoen originally traveled to the Southwest Aerotrekking Academy just for a chance to try the new sport. “I went aerotrekking one time and now I’m completely hooked!” he shakes his head and smiles. Aerotrekking is the art of low level flying following the contour of the ground. Trekkers often report a profound sensation of being part of the terrain over which they are flying, as opposed to just being an observer. Aerotrekking began outside the United States but is now bounding in popularity, especially in the wide open spaces of the American Southwest. |
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