Solar Impulse 2 Breaks Non-Stop Flight Record

NAGOYA, Japan – The Solar Impulse 2 airplane on a round-the-world flight lifted off from the tarmac at Nagoya-Komaki airport in Japan at 03:03 a.m. local time (18:03 UTC) on the longest and most challenging leg of the journey – a 115-hour non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. The round-the-world flight serves not only as a demonstration of what we are already capable of achieving in transportation with current renewable energy technologies, but also to inspire the use of those same technologies in addressing numerous problems facing humanity at present.

The subsequent leg can be from Honolulu to Phoenix, Arizona, after which Borschberg and Piccard will fly collectively throughout the Atlantic on… The flight over the Pacific Ocean has been the longest stretch that the plane has flown so far.

7212 km was covered by Solar Impulse 2 in the Japan to Hawaii leg, fully on solar energy.

When the Solar Impulse took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9th, it was on a debut scientific mission. The solar aircraft is attempting to fly completely around the world.

It will then fly to an unspecified location in the Midwest, before continuing on to New York.

The Solar Impulse 2 is the primary plane to fly day and night time with none gasoline. However, Solar Impulse aircraft is the future and the experts are confident about the same. Clear skies would be needed for five days straight in order for the batteries to survive the journey. But 36hr after taking off from Nanjing on 30 May, a looming Pacific weather front forced a diversion – and a wait of almost a month before the weather looked favourable for the delicate aircraft, which has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but the weight of a family vehicle and flies on the power output of a motor scooter from its four electric motors.

“Realizing a big dream requires ambition, planning, determination, courage and commitment, in my life, I have always sought to push boundaries and to question limitations”, said Dr Piccard.

The challenge of the mission is that it will be a non-stop flight with a single pilot only allowed on the aircraft.

According to Pew Charitable Trusts, by 2030, there is an expected 594 percent increase in the global use of clean energy in comparison will large hydropower capacity, nuclear powered sources and fossil fuel-powered generation.

Sunlight glimmered on the horizon as the Solar Impulse ground crew burst into cheers and applause upon completion of the groundbreaking flight, whose progress was streamed live at the solar impulse website.

He set a new world record, and his partner Bertrand Piccard is getting ready to do the next leg.

André Borschberg, engineer by education and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in management science, a trained fighter pilot and professional airplane and helicopter pilot, is the CEO.