André Borschberg arises in Hawaii in July 2015, the commands ” Solar Impulse 2 “. – ZCVA / WENN.COM / SIPA
    • 22/04/2016 at 09:40
    • updated

Solar Impulse brave again the air.
 After almost 300 days of a long
 technical stop in Hawaii (although we have seen worse place to be blocked), the solar aircraft has resumed its world tour began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, this time towards the west coast of the United States.

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the revolutionary experimental device, which runs on a battery-fed power solar and “without a drop of fuel,” as explained by its designers, took off Thursday under a clear sky Kalaeloa airport at 6 am local 15 (18 h 15 French time) and goes to Mountain View near San Francisco, California, he must reach sixty hours later, that is to say Sunday morning French time.

“it’s beautiful! It is in the air “, shouted during takeoff Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard, only the orders for the ninth flight. He and his compatriot André Borschberg will take turns to complete each step. “We are very serene,” confided the pilot just before the start of this stage, for which Solar Impulse will put about ten times longer than a conventional commercial flight for the same route.

& gt; & gt; Read also: How the Solar Impulse pilots go live in less than 4m3

On Twitter, he referred to a “strange sensation of being alone over the Pacific Ocean . Much like Amelia Earhart must have felt, “referring to the American pilot disappeared while flying over the Pacific during a world tour in 1937.

Around the unique world of adventurers and two activists clean energy had suffered a sudden halt at the finish of the unit in July in Hawaii
 either halfway through the journey of 35,000 km. The plane there was immobilized for 293 days for a technical stop, time to recharge his batteries and repair, damaged during its last step above the Pacific, but also in anticipation of having ideal weather conditions off again

& gt;. & gt; Read also: Behind the scenes of the historic launch of the solar airplane

The plane, whose wings are covered with over 17,000 solar cells that charge the batteries the day runs the world, but also exploring “unknown territories in the area of ​​clean technology,” must complete its circle the globe in a dozen stages, some 500 flight hours, to promote the use of renewable energies.

once arrived near San Francisco, he will remain several steps, including two in the central United States to reach New York and the East coast before starting the Atlantic crossing. They will decide at the last moment to make stops in Western Europe or North Africa. The aircraft will then stop on the Mediterranean coast before returning full circle in Abu Dhabi

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