Solar Impulse 2 arises in Hawaii after almost 120 hours of flight – BFMTV.COM

This is the happy episode of a historic flight. The plane Solar Impulse 2 landed shortly before 16 hours GMT on Friday in Hawaii after a Pacific crossing of nearly 8,200 kilometers and almost 120 hours in the air, beating the world solo flight record .

At 62, the Swiss pilot André Borschberg entered the aviation legend with a solo flight he called “internal journey “to commands the solar airplane between Japan Hawaii and across the Pacific.

“He did it”, the organization has published on his Twitter account while the aircraft powered only by solar energy touched the ground, when the Sun rose on American archipelago.

A necklace of exotic flowers around the neck, the businessman and Swiss driver appeared cheerful and freshly shaven images broadcast live on the site dedicated to this venture.

“Hard to believe what I see: # Si2 to Hawaii but I never doubted thatandreborschberg could do it,” quickly tweeted Bertrand Piccard, the second pilot of the unit.

The experimental aircraft landed as planned at Kalaeloa Airport on the main island of Oahu, about 30 kilometers west of Honololu. The tired voice, André Borschberg had entrusted the checkpoint around 12:30 GMT having “made small breaks (…) but I’m awake now.” He still had a little over 180 km to go, or flight of 3:30. He naps 20 minutes in order to keep control of the device

The organizers had tweeted about ten hours earlier:

“@ With andreborschberg is tired. turbulence at 2,400 meters above sea level and a cold front near, THE SITUATION IS DIFFICULT. “

” Five days and five nights in the air “

With nearly 120 hours flight, André Borschberg has largely broke the previous world solo flight record set in 2006 by Steve Fossett, who had flown for 76 hours and 45 minutes (a little more than three days).

“Five days and five nights in the air,” noted Bertrand Piccard, very moved, two hours before arrival. Live camera images posted on the website of the expedition allowed the monitoring worldwide the last hours of approach on Hawaii. It is doing at night, only the headlights of the aircraft drew his long silhouette until the first rays of the sun.

Bertrand Piccard will take orders for the next port that would connect the Hawaiian Islands in Phoenix, Arizona

The plane, which had previously also had to wait a month China had started on March 9 Abu Dhabi to a world tour, the first aircraft powered by solar energy, from 35,000 km to promote the use of renewable energy.