Solar flight makes Hawaii

“Difficult to believe what I see: #Si2 in Hawaii!” Managing energy level is not easy. “W/ turbulence at 8’000 feet & a cold front close, SITUATION IS hard”.

“After the longest and most tiring night of this flight, bringing the pilot and aircraft to the limits, Andre is now back under the oceanic sunlight”, mission organisers said.

Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard have been alternating on the long solo flights aboard the plane.

As The Two-Way’s Bill Chappell wrote last week, the Japan to Hawaii leg is the 13th stage of a planned circumnavigation for Solar Impulse.

Borschberg has previously worked as an army pilot and consultant for Swiss firm McKinsey, before dabbling in entrepreneurship, co-founding a company specialising in microprocessors.

During the flight, Borschberg rested for 20-minute stretches.

An airplane powered by the sun is scheduled to land in Hawaii Friday after a five-day journey across the Pacific from Japan.

The pioneering plane is due to land Friday morning local time at Kalaeloa Airport on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu. After all, he has been flying non-stop for nearly 4 days and has broken the record for the longest-ever solo flight. However, the flight from Nagoya to O’ahu crossed the Pacific Ocean, meaning that Borschberg could have ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere with little hope of rescue.

Solar Impulse is on its “round the globe” journey piloted by Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, the two Swiss explorers alternately.

The whole trip from Japan to Hawaii was expected to take 120 hours.

“In many ways, Solar Impulse is a flying laboratory for new and existing lightweight technologies and other materials that can help to achieve breakthrough results in energy efficiency”, according to Claude Michel, Solvay’s Solar Impulse project manager. “It is a special moment for us because it is the first airplane that can fly day and night, a week nonstop, even a month on solar energy”, Borschberg said.

Solar Impulse 2 set off from Abu Dhabi earlier this year in a multi-leg attempt to fly around the world without using any fuel.

“For @bertrandpiccard and I, it’s a dream coming true”, Borschberg tweeted triumphantly upon after completing the most unsafe leg of the around-the-world journey.

Bad weather is a challenge because the plane isn’t created to withstand rain, turbulence and heavy winds.

The aircraft is expected to stay in Honolulu until next week, when it heads across the continental U.S.to Phoenix, Chicago and New York City.

The SI2 finished the 8,200-km of non-stop solo flight from Nagoya in Japan before it landed successfully at the Kalaeloa Airport in Honolulu.

The plane will then cross the Atlantic, and stop over in southern Europe or north Africa, before ending its trip in Abu Dhabi.