On Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 8:54:47 AM UTC-7, Steve Leonard wrote:
Now, that is a rare problem!

"The lift was too strong to do the 50,000 ft flutter excitation test, so they excited the lift temporarily."

The lift was too strong at 50,000 feet, so they had to move to a different location so they would not exceed their planned speed at that altitude. I think that would qualify as a "Ripping" day, alright!

So no attempt at a new record, and I believe they are now packing up to go home for the year.

I wonder how the envelope expansion went. The glider design is intended to provide a usable speed range between stall and flutter at 90k ft, but the upper limit they've been sticking within this year runs out soon after 75k ft.

It possible they have have found they need some remediation before going higher.