Tulsa Departure Continues Unique World Flight

Updated 05.23.16, 0112ET: The Solar Impulse crew alerted ANN, early Saturday morning, to the next step in SI2's globe-circling endeavor. Solar Impulse 2 took off from Tulsa International Airport, Oklahoma, with André Borschberg at the controls, on 21 May at 4:22am local time (UTC-5).

The aircraft landed at Dayton International Airport, Ohio, on 21 May at 9:56pm local time (UTC-4). The flight took 16 hours 34 minutes and 692 miles, recording an average speed of 41,76 mph and maximum altitude of 21000 feet. As soon as possible, weather permitting, Bertrand Piccard will pilot Si2 to the next stop-over and continue the crossing of the United States.

Si2 spent a week at the Tulsa International Airport until a clear weather window presented them with the chance to allow them to continue their flights across the United States. The selection of Dayton, often associated with some of aviation's earliest historic people and efforts, seems most apropos to the equally historic nature of this sun-powered journey.

This leg of the flight, the 12th, is part of the attempt to achieve the first ever Round-The-World Solar Flight, the goal of which is to demonstrate how modern clean technologies can achieve the impossible. The mostly carbon-fiber structure is powered by the charging of more than 17000 solar cells that charge the airframes batteries and provide power to the electric powerplants that have carried Si2 much of the way around the world since leaving Abu Dhabi in March of 2015.

While New York is known to be a targeted landing site for Si2, it is as yet unknown if the aircraft will fly to an interim site prior to heading out for New York and preparing for a challenging transatlantic flight in the next few weeks.

FMI: www.solarimpulse.com