Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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pharvey
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Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by pharvey »

Not too sure if this really is the correct place to post, so please move mods if you feel necessary.

I find this absolutely incredible..

The latest leg of it's around the world flight will take Solar Impulse from Nanjing China to Hawaii, non-stop. This will cover approximately 8,000km and will take 5-6 DAYS CONTINUOUS SOLO FLIGHT - the pilot will be able to take 20 min "catnaps" !! :shock: :shock:

Solar Impulse awaits 'moment of truth'

"It will be a test of man and machine. The Solar Impulse project is waiting to undertake its greatest challenge yet: flying non-stop from Nanjing in China to Hawaii in the Central Pacific.

For a passenger airliner, the 8,000km could be completed in 10 hours or so. But for this solar-powered, prop-driven, experimental aircraft, it could take 5-6 days and nights of continuous flight.

The plane will need the weather on its side, which is why the team is currently sitting tight in Nanjing, looking out for a sizeable, favourable window.

So far on its epic round-the-world quest to promote clean technologies, Solar Impulse has been restricted to short hops of about 20 hours' maximum duration.

To complete this seventh leg will involve smashing several aviation records - not least the longest-duration journey for a single-seater plane. "


Full Report & Details: -

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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There really must be some "butt-clenching" moments on this record attempt. This leg was to be from Nanjing in China to Hawaii, some 8,000km and an expected (NON-STOP SOLO) flight time of 5-6 days...... due to poor whether however, the attempt has been aborted and Solar Impulse in now heading to Japan to await clearer skies....... a little further into the flight and poorer whether could have made things somewhat interesting to say the least for the pilot!!
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by STEVE G »

The airline I work for flew the disassembled Solar Impulse down to Abu Dhabi earlier this year. I had a look at the wing structure and it looked shockingly light for the size of it, the wing ribs were constructed out of carbon fibre tubes about the diameter of a drinking straw.
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/solar-imp ... -abu-dhabi
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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Well, all down to minimising weight of course, but makes you wonder!

Must have been quite somthing to see though - regardless whether fully assembled or not.

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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by dozer »

Solar Impulse grounded until 2016

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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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^ Yeah, was watching a report on this yesterday - certainly a bit of an anti-climax..
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by dozer »

I agree, I think they need to go back and start from the beginning, they can hardly claim it’s an around the world flight with a 8 month break.
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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Solar plane to resume round-the-world journey after delays

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakin ... 84405.html

Los Angeles - After a nine-month delay on a Hawaiian island, the Swiss solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 will attempt to resume its round-the-world odyssey Thursday, the plane's pilots said.
Pilot Bertrand Piccard plans to take off at 1500 GMT from Kalaeloa Airport on Oahu for the 62-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean to Mountain View, California, on the US West Coast.

The fuel-free flight to promote clean-energy technology continues a route that began in 2015 in Abu Dhabi and took the experimental aircraft to India, Myanmar, China and Japan on the first half of its global circumnavigation.

From Mountain View, the journey is planned to continue across the United States, then over the Atlantic to Europe and back to Abu Dhabi.

Solar Impulse 2 set a record for the longest solar-powered flight on the last leg of its journey, flying nearly 8,300 kilometres non-stop in July from Nagoya, Japan, to Hawaii.

Battery problems that arose during the five-day flight had left the experimental aircraft stranded since then.
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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^ Yes, have been reading about this on the BBC - bit sad really, still a massive achievement, but with the problems and delays just seems to be a bit of a let-down....... :cry:
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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"The Solar Impulse 2 picked up a strong tail wind before sunset on Friday and was cruising at 150 kph, or about 93 mph. It was expected to arrive in the San Francisco Bay area by Saturday evening."......

Take off from Hawaii video at link.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... TE=DEFAULT
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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Solar Impulse completes Pacific crossing

"It flew over San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday evening as it prepared to land in California.......The pair's intention is to reach New York by the start of June, to begin preparations for an Atlantic crossing."

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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by PeteC »

This is where it's landing around Midnight west coast time. It's waiting for winds to die down. Moffett Field was originally constructed in 1931 for dirigibles. You can still see some of the huge hangers in the photo. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

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You can pick up the prep for landing and landing live at link. Happening NOW.

http://www.solarimpulse.com/sitv
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by STEVE G »

I put on BBC world last night and I thought it was amazing that they could actually carry out an interview with the pilot while he was flying the thing.
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Re: Solar Impulse Around-the-world Flight

Post by PeteC »

It's up again and on the way to Arizona.

Live Feed: http://www.solarimpulse.com/sitv

Print article: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_2983 ... to-arizona
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