The aircraft departed Moffett Field in Silicon Valley at 5:30 a.m. local time bound for Phoenix, where it is expected to land at around 9 p.m. Solar Impulse 2 had been in California for just over a week after arriving from Hawaii.
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The solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2 took off from San Francisco early Monday as it continues its around-the-world tour with several flights across the U.S.
The plane’s wings, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries.
“We have demonstrated it is feasible to fly many days, many nights, that the technology works” said Borschberg, 63, who piloted the plane during a five-day trip from Japan to Hawaii and who kept himself alert by doing yoga poses and meditation.
The plane had been in California for a week since crossing the Pacific in an approximately 60-hour flight to land in Mountain View.
Solar Impulse 2 will make three more stops in the USA before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or Northern Africa.
Solar Impulse 2 can reach the maximum altitude of 28,000 feet (8.5 km), according to the project. He was behind the cockpit for 62 hours nonstop from Japan to Hawaii.
The biggest limiting factor is speed: Because it’s powered by four scooter-type electric motors, Solar Impulse 2 typically travels only about as fast as a family vehicle.
“We are now continuing the adventure across the United States, with the ambition to show everyone along the way, that if an airplane can fly day and night without fuel, we could all use these same clean technologies on the ground to develop new industrial markets and stimulate economic growth, while also protecting the environment”, said Piccard, initiator and chairman. The pilots are on a quest to complete the first ever around the world trip in a solar plane. But the flight damaged the plane’s battery and led to a nine-month delay.
The aircraft was flown on that leg by Borschberg, whose 118-hour journey smashed the previous record of 76 hours and 45 minutes set by USA adventurer Steve Fossett in 2006.
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He took catnaps of only 20 minutes at a time to maintain control of the pioneering plane during his arduous flight from Japan, in what his team described as “difficult” conditions.
