Solar Impulse 2 Starts Circumnavigation
Solar Impulse left Abu Dhabi Monday morning local time on its attempt to make the first circumnavigation solely on solar power. The aircraft took off heading east late Sunday night EDT and the first leg is to Muscat in Oman.
Solar Impulses left Abu Dhabi Monday morning local time on its attempt to make the first circumnavigation solely on solar power. The aircraft took off heading east late Sunday night EDT and the first leg is to Muscat in Oman. Plans are for a five-month journey that will include some major ocean crossings. Andre Borschberg flew the first leg and he and Bertrand Piccard will share flying duties through the epic journey. The aircraft has the wingspan of a new 747 but weighs less than 5,000 pounds and it has some tough flying ahead."I am confident we have a very special aeroplane, and it will have to be to get us across the big oceans," Borschberg told BBC News before he took off. There's a two-hour recording of the preparations and launch here.
The planned route takes the aircraft across Asia before leaving the coast of China at Nanjing for an over-water hop to Hawaii. Borschberg said that might take five full days and will be a challenge for the pilot."But we have the next two months, as we fly the legs to China, to train and prepare ourselves." After Hawaii, the next stop is scheduled for Phoenix, followed by a transcontinental non-stop to New York, before heading out over the Atlantic.
