Solar plane begins trans-Atlantic stretch of global journey

Already several hours into his flight, Piccard tweeted that he’s now past the point of no return. A major chunk of the journey still remains with the plane having to fly across Europe to reach Abu Dhabi.

Hasan Al Redaini, the UAE representative traveling with Solar Impulse commented, “The Transatlantic crossing represents another remarkable milestone in our journey”.

The pilots said the views inspired them on their mission to free the world of reliance on fossil fuels. Piccard and fellow adventurer, Andre Borschberg, have been taking turns flying the solar-powered plane on their quest to circumnavigate the globe exclusively using the power of the sun.

It aims to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an expected 90-hour journey to Spain. Its 236-foot wingspan is covered with solar panels, allowing Solar Impulse 2 to generate all the power its four electric propeller engines need for flight.

The plane landed in Hawaii from Japan almost one year ago, on July 3.

A solar-powered airplane took off from New York Monday on its way across the Atlantic as part of a multi-stage attempt to fly around the world.

After crossing the Atlantic, Borschberg is scheduled to fly to Egypt, and Piccard will likely to do the final leg from there back to Abu Dhabi by late summer, completing a 43,000-kilometer (27,000-mile) world trip.

Lastly, the team received valuable support from the Federal Aviation Administration, not only for the Statue of Liberty flyby, but also for all the mission flights across the United States.

The record breaking solo flight of 5 days and 5 nights without fuel from Nagoya to Hawaii gives a clear message: everybody could use the plane’s technologies on the ground to halve our world’s energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life.

The plane had been due to leave early Sunday but this was put off, apparently because of concerns over the weather. In 2010, the Solar Impulse team achieved a milestone when Borschberg successfully completed the first solar night flight. On June 11, it made a 4-hour and 41-minute flight from Pennsylvania to NY, its last stop in the U.S.