Glider Soars To 35,500 Feet Above Mt. Torlesse

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29390, 17 December 1960, Page 15

Glider Soars To 35,500 Feet Above Mt. Torlesse

A new world altitude gliding record was probably set up over Canterbury yesterday. The well-known Christchurch glider pilot, Mr S. H. Georgeson, flying a u-+ Skylark 3F sailplane, reached an altitude of 35,500 ft above sea level in the Mount torlesse area, giving him a gain of height from the point where he began to climb of about 34,000 ft.

. Mr Georgeson said last events that according to the New Zealand Gliding Association, the wond gain of height record is understood to stand at 31.710 ft. This was established over Europe by a German glider pilot flying from a winch launch so that his absolute altitude was also 31.700 ft. The previous best altitude performance in New Zealand was also put up by Mr Georgeson about two years and a half ago over the Lake Coleridge area. Then he reached an official absolute altitude of 31.500 ft and recorded a gain of height of 29.400 ft. With the prospect of favourable westerly conditions for gliding yesterday, Mr Georgeson left home at 4.15 a.m. for the property of Mr L. Hopkins, at Dunsandel, from which he set off on the record breaking flight In his sailplane, which was flown in the world gliding chamnionshins in Germany last June. Mr Georgeson was towed off the ground by Mr Warren Denton, official observer of the New Zealand Gliding Association, about 2.20 p.m. At first conditions were not at all premising and the sailplane got down to about 1200 ft over the old Te Pirita aerodrome, and the pilot was on the look out for a suitable place to land near a -home with a telephone. However, Mr Georgeson managed to remain in the air and after about an hour of struggling reached 5000 ft. At this stage he started to get lift and about two hours and a half after take off, still over the Te Pirita district, he was up to 25.000 ft. Then he did a long glide forward of the northwest arch out over the Snowden station near Mount Hutt and Lake Coleridge. In front of the north-west arch, which he said was “a really fantastic sight,” he slowly rose up coming out over the top of the arch at about 35,500 ft. With the cloud underneath him. Mr Georgeson was not absolutely certain where he was at this altitude, but he said that it was probably over Mount Torlesse. With the temperature an estimated minus 50 degrees centigrade, Mr Georgeson was living in a veritable ice box with the canopy iced over and the ailerons too stiff to move on account of th: extreme cold. Up till about 10 minutes before the maximum altitude was reached at 6.20 p.m. the sailplane was in the sunshine and this helped to counter the effects of the cold, but Mr Georgeson said that his hands and

feet had felt very cold though he did not suffer from frostbite.

Just as he reached the highest point of the flight and sensing that he might be breaking a record, Mr Georgeson removed his oxygen mask to check on whether his barograph was ticking. Instantly he knew that something was wrong from experience he had in the decompression chamber at Wigram a few days ago. His finger nails were becoming blue and he quickly replaced his mask. Just in case the barograph was not working Mr Georgeson took a photograph of the altimeter.

Only 30 minutes later he was back on the ground at Dunsandel and an hour later when the glider was dismantled metal sections were still covered in frost. During the flight Mr Georgeson was in radio contact with the control tower at Harewood and in a patch of turbulence at 17,000 feet he called up the tower to see if he could obtain information about conditions from an incoming aircraft from Australia. Mr Georgeson’s performance is subject to confirmation and for that purpose his barograph chart, calebrated by a recognised authority such as National Airways Corporation or the university, will have to be sent to the headquarters of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in Paris.