Solar Impulse 2 took off from Oklahoma heading for OH on the third leg of its journey across the United States on Saturday afternoon.
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The plane departed at 3:22 a.m. local time (0922 GMT) and is being piloted by one of its co-founders, Andre Borschberg, on this 12th flight, which is scheduled to take 18 hours.
“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”, they said in a statement.
Solar Impulse 2, the solar airplane of Swiss pioneers Bertrand Piccard and Ande Borschberg, in preparation for the take off from Tulsa International Airport, Oklahoma on Saturday.
Takeoff from Tulsa International Airport came at 4:23 a.m. CT (2:23 a.m. PT).
To complete the epic journey, the aeroplane needs to get to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates where the journey started in March a year ago.
The project team says, weather permitting, Piccard will pilot the Solar Impulse 2 to the next stop-over and continue the crossing of the United States.
The Solar Impulse 2, which weighs roughly the same as a family vehicle but has wings wider than those of a Boeing 747, contains 17,000 solar cells that power the aircraft’s propellers and charge batteries.
While in Tulsa, the plane had been stored in an American Airlines hanger at TIA.
The flight, with André Borschberg at the controls, is expected to take about 18 hours.
Close-up of a 1928 reconstruction of the first Wright Brothers’ aircraft.
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Solar Impulse’s final US destination is NY, which will set the stage for a climactic Atlantic crossing to Europe and the eventual return to Abu Dhabi. After a record-breaking Pacific Ocean crossing, it was grounded in Hawaii for several months due to battery damage caused by overheating, but resumed its journey in April of this year and reached California on April after a 62-hour flight.
