The Solar Impulse team says in one flight, the new world of clean technology met the ancient world.
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On Wednesday, July 13th André s legacy at Solar Impulse was solidified as he closed Solar Impulse’s penultimate flight of the round-the-world tour. The plane runs on stored energy at night.
The zero-fuel aircraft took off from Seville at 0420 GMT en route for Cairo, Egypt on a trip that is expected to take 50 hours and 30 minutes, Reuters reports.
The Solar Impulse 2 kicked off its epic journey in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, and went through several obstacles, such as an overheated battery, bad weather conditions, and lack of funds, but it is finally on its last leg.
The plane, which is no heavier than a auto but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, will then set out for Abu Dhabi on the final leg of its voyage.
Borschberg piloted a 8,924-kilometre flight between Japan and Hawaii that lasted 118 hours, smashing the previous record for the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history.
“Not many pilots get the chance to bridge the gap between the two worlds in a single flight – and definitely no pilot has done it in a solar powered airplane!”.
The aircraft swept over the pyramids before landing at Cairo International Airport at just after 7 a.m. local time this morning.
The 58-year-old had flown the plane across the Atlantic in a 6,765km journey.
“You look at the Sun, you look at your motors, they turn for days and for days, no fuel and you think: ‘That’s a miracle”. “We worship the [sun] too!” he said. “It’s to show what we can do with clean technologies”. Another concern of both pilots is that their slow-moving solar plane will fly over a number of military operations in the Mediterranean and North African region.
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“It’s been a long journey and of course the last flight will be bittersweet, but we have been waiting for this moment for a long time”, Mr Piccard said.
