This came into my attention. I have never heard of it for some odd reason, but truly amazing. Altitude record of 74,334 ft riding the waves 
I suppose this shows that a glider can go as high as there is vertical air movement, if it is light enough.
The oxygen system would have been interesting. This is U2 territory
If you towed me with a turbine aircraft to 53.000 feet then the rest of the mission is for scientific purposes only…
Very interesting though … outcomes therefrom might significantly reduce cruise fuel flow of large aircraft in some future
Talking gliders, and also indulging into RC flying, I’m still flabbergasted by DS (dynamic soaring) speed records… as records go, they get broken all the time, but here’s a well documented, if older, one:
This was flown during January 2021 in the US, aided by strong winds gusting up to 65mph. On this day, Spencer Lisenby flew his radio-controlled model glider at a record-breaking speed of 548mph (881kph).
And that’s how it kinda works:
Anyone here to try that with his full scale glider 
Dan wrote:
Anyone here to try that with his full scale glider
Can’t be this hard, now, can it? An albatross does it while power napping at night and – of course – near the water surface.
I really wonder how many albatrosses suffer from a severe case CFIT doing this that we never know about….
:-)
Also, I like the g-forces in play while changing direction of that model. You’d probably find your brain pasted to the canopy.
