Atlantic Crossing Next Major Hurdle

Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) departed Dayton (OH) International Airport with Bertrand Piccard at the controls, this morning at 0402 local time (UTC-4).

The destination for this leg of the around-the-world journey is Lehigh Valley International Airport, PA. Si2 is expected to arrive there at about 2100 EDT tonight.

The flight 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 Si2 team had planned to fly this leg on Tuesday, but there was about a two-and-a-half minute failure of an electrical system that keeps the airplane's portable hangar inflated. During the time it took to reboot the system, some parts of the airplane were lightly touched by the deflating hangar fabric.

Si2 was checked carefully by the team's engineers, and it was cleared to fly Wednesday.

On his departure, Piccard said he was dedicating this flight "to the Solar Impulse team who did a wonderful job with the mobile hangar. It is thanks to them that I could leave to Lehigh Valley International Airport today."

(Images provided by Solar Impulse)

FMI: Si2 Flight Live