Solar Impulse has done it! What a revolutionary breakthrough in carbon free air transport.
The solar-powered flight has landed in Switzerland following the completion of the first ever successful night flight. You can just about hear the entire aviation industry gasp, what an impact this will have on their future.
Solar impulse reached heights of 8,700m during its 26-hour flight – both the longest and highest recorded flight for a solar-power plane – before landing at Payerne airport this morning.
At the controls of the four-engine aircraft was former Swiss fighter jet pilot André Borschberg. He explained: “During the whole of the flight, I just sat there and watched the battery charge level rise and rise.
“Sitting in a plane producing more energy than it consumes is a fantastic feeling,” added Mr Borschberg, who is also co-founder of the Solar Impulse project.
Jubilant pilot, Borschberg told Reuters television: “It was unbelievable, success better than we expected. We almost thought to make it longer, but … we demonstrated what we wanted to demonstrate so they made me come back, so here I am.”
Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss president of the project, best known for completing the first round-the-world flight in a hot air balloon in 1999, said the success of the flight showed the potential of renewable energies and clean technology.
Following the successful trial designer Bertrand Piccard explained the dream of perpetual flight was very much a reality.
“We are on the verge of the perpetual flight,” he said.
“This was the moment that proved the mission was successful, we made it,” he said
“Nothing can prevent us from another day and night, and the myth of perpetual flight.”
He went on to explain the plane had emerged from the darkened skies with enough battery lift for a further three hours flight, more than the team had expected.
Addressing journalists after the flight Mr Borschberg concluded: “This is a highly symbolic moment: flying by night using solely solar power is a stunning manifestation of the potential that clean technologies offer today to reduce the dependency of our society on fossil fuels.”
“The success of this first night flight by a solar-powered plane is crucial for the further course of the Solar Impulse project,” it said.
The next milestone will be crossing the Atlantic using a second prototype which goes into construction soon.
Sponsors of the project, whose budget is 100 million Swiss francs ($95 million), include Belgian chemicals company Solvay SA, Swiss watchmaker Omega, part of the Swatch group, and German banking giant Deutsche Bank. France’s Altran is the project’s engineering partner.
For more info on Solar Impulse, have a look at Solar Night Flight first flight.
Source: Solar Impulse
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