They hugged and pumped their fists in the air.
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Piccard and Borschberg recently established the International Committee of Clean Technology (ICCT), which will research and develop concrete solutions for a clean future. The future is you. The future is now. Let’s take it further, ‘ Piccard said, concluding the 13-year exploit. The plane’s wingspan stretches 72 meters to catch the sun’s energy.
At around 5,070 pounds (2,300 kilograms), the plane weighs about as much as a minivan or mid-sized truck.
The Solar Impulse was as heavy as a family-sized automobile but was still able to reach speeds up to 62 miles per hour (100 kph) and altitudes of almost 28,000 feet (8,500 meters).
To help steady it during takeoffs and landings, Bloomberg.com reported, the plane was guided by runners and bicyclists. However, the trip was delayed briefly due to a heat wave in Saudi Arabia, forcing Piccard and Borschberg to wait a bit longer to enjoy the end of their 17-year mission to fly around the world using only solar power.
There were 16 stops and many delays as the very light aircraft had to be nursed through hard weather conditions.
It the airplace a cruising speed of about 50 kilometres an hour, but can go faster in strong sunlight.
The plane made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Its North American stops included California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and NY. “For this, Solar Impulse pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg now join the elite club of pioneering aviators”.
The completion of the flight by a zero-emission aircraft capable of flying day and night without fuel proved that technological innovation “can achieve the impossible”, said the project team, promising to follow up by launching new projects “such as the development of solar-powered drones”. “It demonstrates clearly that with pioneering spirit and clean technologies, we can run the world without consuming the earth”.
It took 70 hours for Piccard to make the historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
It also set the record for the longest solo flight – five days and five nights – without fuel, from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii. The seat reclined, and its cushion could be removed for access to a toilet. The equipment was rigged to warn the pilots if they dozed off and the plane stopped flying level, with flashing lights in their goggles and buzzing armbands. The pilot’s blood oxygen levels were monitored and sent back to ground control in Monaco.
Two pilots alternated to fly the 16 legs of the journey, spending up to five days at a time each in the one-man aircraft.
Piccard, a psychiatrist, is the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and a grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard.
This is a historic day for Captain Piccard and the Solar Impulse team, but it is also a historic day for humanity.
The project is estimated to cost more than $100 million.
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Prince Albert II of Monaco, Doris Leuthard, Vice President of the Swiss Confederation, and Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company and official host partner of Si2, led the welcoming committee of worldwide dignitaries and VIPs.
