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18 | Flight International | 17-23 March 2015 flightglobal.com

Read about our top seven examples

of alternatively powered aircraft at

flightglobal.com/alternativepower

A

s an aviation record-setting
machine, Solar Impulse 2 is
off to a good start. Following a
relatively short first leg of its
round-the-world adventure –
400km (249 miles) from Abu
Dhabi to Muscat, Oman in just
over 13h, including a long hold-
ing pattern – stage two covered
1,468km in 13h 20min across the
Arabian Sea to Ahmedabad in
India, claiming the solar-powered
world straight distance record for
manned flight between pre-de-
clared waypoints.
Subject to Fédération Aéro-
nautique Internationale verifica-
tion, the record will replace that
set by SI2’s predecessor aircraft
in 2013 – a flight of 1,386.5km
made during a barnstorming
tour of the USA that formed part
of the preparation for the round-
the-world flight.
Project co-founders André
Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard

• both accomplished aviators –
  must be pleased to be making a
  mark in the aviation history
  books. Borschberg was at the con-
  trols during the now-eclipsed re-
  cord and for the Abu Dhabi-
  Muscat leg, while Piccard flew
  the crossing to India. Both of
  them will have a chance to push

the endurance record further on

upcoming legs across the Pacific

and Atlantic oceans – their per-

sonal endurance will also be on

test during those legs, which will

take up to six days.

TECHNOLOGIES

If all goes to plan and the 12-

stage, 35,000km journey brings

aircraft, Borschberg, Piccard and

ground crew back to Abu Dhabi

• possibly by mid-May – they
  will have achieved another first:
  girdling the globe in an aircraft
  powered exclusively by solar
  power. Technically, that “first”
  may remain up for grabs, as Solar
  Impulse 2’s route won’t take it
  across the equator. But by cross-
  ing the Middle East, India, China,
  two oceans, the USA and Europe,
  Borschberg and Piccard will have
  made their point.
  That point – perhaps remarka-
  bly given the icon of this venture


• is not about aviation: it is about
  energy. The pair hope that flying
  huge distances with about as
  much power as a small motor
  scooter will demonstrate that the
  world’s formidable energy chal-
  lenges can be met by existing
  technologies. So, they will be
  using their time – and the mas-

TECHNOLOGY DAN THISDELL LONDON

Solar Impulse 2:

flight to energise

the aviation world

Swiss pilots of record-breaking solar-powered venture say
they are flying to raise awareness of clean energy worldwide

“Clean technology

and renewable energy

can achieve the

impossible”

BERTRAND PICCARD

Co-founder, Solar Impulse project

sive presence of their aircraft –

during all their stops along the

way to hold press conferences

and meet with governments, non-

governmental organisations, uni-

versities and schools. As Piccard

puts it: “With our attempt to com-

plete the first solar-powered

round-the-world flight, we want

to demonstrate that clean tech-

nology and renewable energy can

achieve the impossible.

“Renewable energy can be-

come an integral part of our lives,

and together we can save our

planet’s natural resources.”

DREAMS

As Piccard recently told Flight In-

ternational sister journal ICIS

Chemical News: “The technolog-

ical solutions that allow Solar Im-

pulse to fly both day and night

are accessible to all and are repli-

cable in everyday life. These are
not secret, futuristic technologies.
If they were used routinely in our
society, we would be able to save
50% of our consumption of fossil
energies and to produce half of
the rest with renewable energies.
“Solar Impulse wants to em-
phasise the energy solutions as
well as the environmental and
political solutions from a decid-
edly constructive angle in order
to engender enthusiasm and the
necessary motivation to leave be-
hind this pervading fatalism.
Aviation makes you dream, feeds
your passions.”
Grand vision aside, Solar
Impulse 2 is a remarkable
achievement from a purely avia-
tion perspective, whether it ulti-
mately completes its global tour
as planned or not. The single-seat
aircraft has a wingspan of 72m (a
Boeing 747-8I comes in at “just”
68.5m), but weighs a mere
2,300kg (5,070lb) – about the
mass of a car – including its
633kg load of lithium batteries
The single-seat aircraft has a wingspan of 72m – wider than a 747-8I – but weighs a mere 2,300kg and the 17,248 solar cells on its

Solar Impulse

The innovative design’s first leg was

a journey of 400km from Abu Dhabi to

Oman, which totalled just over 13h