Buffeted by strong desert winds, Solar Impulse 2 had a bumpy leg to the culmination point in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday of a stupendous circumnavigation of the globe.
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Solar Impulse 2, the solar powered plane, arrives at Al Batin Airport in Abu Dabi to complete its world tour flight on July 26, 2016 in the United Arab Emirates. But when the Solar Impulse aircraft touched down in Abu Dhabi in the early morning darkness Tuesday, it successfully completed a round-the-world voyage using only solar power.
The journey of Solar Impulse has not been without difficulties.
Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, the Swiss founders of the project, took turns piloting the aircraft, which has a wingspan larger than a Boeing 747 but weighs no more than an average family auto.
He has been taking turns at the controls with Swiss compatriot Andre Borschberg, with the mission aiming to promote renewable energy.
“Emotions, tears, relief, exhilaration is what we are all feeling right now after completing the first round-the-world solar flight in history”. “Solar Impulse has shown not only the pace of the transition, but that the sky is the limit to what we can do with clean technologies”. Later, while onlookers cheered and applauded, he added, “The future is clean”.
“If this works, of course, everybody can do it on the ground to make a cleaner world”, one of the pilots said in a Solar Impulse video. “It demonstrates clearly that with pioneering spirit and clean technologies, we can run the world without consuming the earth”. The propeller-driven aircraft’s four engines are powered exclusively by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built the plane’s wings.
The Secretary-General said: “You are helping pilot us to that future through your vision, your determination, your courage, and your inspiration and also your great example”. The pilots have to wear oxygen tanks to breathe at high altitude, they’re only allowed to only sleep for 20 minutes at a time, and if they have to wee, there’s a special hole in the pilot’s seat!
“Renewable energy can become an integral part of our lives, and together we can help save our planet’s natural resources”.
Piccard, a psychiatrist, is the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and a grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard.
The journey ended in Abu Dhabi.
This subsequently smashed the record for the longest uninterrupted flight in aviation history, and was also the first to do it without the use of fossil fuels.
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“Solar Impulse has flown more than 40,000 kilometers without fuel, but with an inexhaustible supply of energy and inspiration”.
