Unplanned Stop In Japan Stretched Out For Nearly A Month
After a nearly-month-long unplanned stop in Nagoya, Japan, Solar Impulse 2 departed Monday morning at 3:03 am local time Japan (6:03pm GMT on June 28th) for its planned five-day flight to Hawaii.
Swiss Pilot André Borschberg took off in the single seater aircraft from Nagoya endeavoring to reach Hawaii, in what will be the longest exploration leg of the Solar Impulse’s Round-The-World mission.
The team reports that the first 10 hours of flight were difficult, as they had to solve technical problems before giving the final go to head for Hawaii when Solar Impulse was already off the coast of Japan.
This is a second attempt after diverting the first time around to Nagoya, Japan following a take off from Nanjing, China. This flight will be demanding and challenging particularly given its duration and the fact that no immediate landing is possible and will be a feat never accomplished before in the world of aviation.
The attempt to reach Hawaii from Japan will represent a real life test of endurance for the pilot while at the same time pushing the limits of the airplane to even new levels. Successfully arriving in Hawaii will proving that the impossible is achievable.
“The real moment of truth still lies ahead," said André Borschberg, Co-Founder, CEO and Pilot. "We are now at the point in the Round-the-World Solar Flight where everything comes together, the engineers who worked on the airplane for the last 12 years, the Mission Control Center who will have to predict weather and guide the airplane through good conditions, and Bertrand who had this vision 16 years ago of an airplane flying for days without fuel to change our mindset regarding the potential of clean technologies and renewable energies."
“An airplane flying day and night without fuel is more than a spectacular milestone in aviation, it's the living proof that clean technologies and renewable energies can achieve incredible feats; and that all these energy efficient technologies should now be used globally in order to have a cleaner world. Solar Impulse is the result of years of innovation from our partners and the hard work of our engineering team led by André." said Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse Initiator, Chairman and Pilot.
Bertrand Piccard, who will pilot the airplane from Hawaii to Phoenix, will complete the crossing of the Pacific. The team says the flight will not only continue to demonstrate the credibility of the vision of Solar Impulse, but more importantly, help at raising millions of voices from individuals and governments to replace old polluting devices with new clean technologies that are more energy efficient.
Bertrand and André have created a web platform FutureIsClean, in order to enable concerned citizens a mechanism to input into the upcoming COP 21 negotiations in Paris.
(Images provided by Solar Impulse)
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