Update: Dan Parker's Altitude Attempt

KITPLANES readers will recall a recent article about Dan Parker and his High Flyer (January 2008 issue). He is in the process of designing and building an aircraft that he hopes will set a new world record of 31,051 feet for aircraft with a takeoff weight of less than 300kg.

Dan has informed us that he’s made that milestone of attaching the wings and is hoping to fly it this Spring from an airport in Northern California. The requirement is that he has to take off with no external assistance such as a tow, and land with all the parts he had on take off, meaning he can’t drop the wheels or throw out oxygen bottles.

We’ll be watching this closely and reporting the flight. To see details of the aircraft go to Dan’s website.