Just say the name Steve Fossett, a longtime AOPA member, in any news story, and it probably means a new aeronautical record has been set. Fossett, 62, and former NASA test pilot Einar Enevoldson, 74, unofficially broke the world absolute altitude record for a glider on August 29 by surfing mountain waves to 50,671 feet
over Argentina. The men wore spacesuits in the unpressurized glider, named Perlan (an extensively modified German-built DG-505 glider), equipped with foot heaters and hand muffs to ward off the -70-degree F temperatures. "This record is special," Fossett said in a statement on his Web site. "We have made attempts in New Zealand, USA, and Argentina over a period of five years — so this is a hard-won success." This is Fossett's 116th official world record spanning five sports: balloons, airplanes, sailboats, airships, and gliders. Fossett told AOPA that he wants to donate the glider to a museum. While Fossett plans to move on to other projects, he said Enevoldson wants to design and build a glider and take it to 100,000 feet. For more on wave soaring and the Perlan Project, see the story from AOPA Pilot.-Linda