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Solar Impulse breaks longest non-stop solo flight record as it heads for Hawaii Solar Impulse close to Hawaii after breaking non-stop solo flight record
(about 3 hours later)
A Swiss pilot attempting to circumnavigate the globe with an aircraft powered only by the sun’s energy has broken a world record for the longest non-stop solo flight. A solar-powered plane on the riskiest leg of a round-the-globe attempt is closing in on Hawaii after a record-breaking flight which has tested its exhausted pilot to the limit in “difficult” conditions.
The Solar Impulse plane broke the record as it made its way from Japan to Hawaii. Veteran Swiss aviator Andre Borschberg, who has spent more than four days flying from Japan in the Solar Impulse 2, is expected to land on the Pacific US island state on Friday if all goes well.
The plane, which took off from Japan on Monday on the seventh leg of its journey and is expected to land in Hawaii by the weekend, shattered the solo-flight record threshold of 76 hours while crossing the Pacific, said the project team. “After the longest and most tiring night of this flight, bringing the pilot and aircraft to the limits, Andre is now back under the oceanic sunlight,” mission organisers said.
The aircraft, piloted alternatively by Swiss explorers Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, set off on its 22,000-mile (35,000km) journey around the world from Abu Dhabi on 9 March. By 0200 GMT the plane had traveled 91% of the way to Hawaii, having flown 7,471km (4,642 miles) and had a few hundred kilometres to go.
Related: Solar Impulse 2 to make unscheduled stopover in Japan Earlier it crossed a cold weather front before Hawaii, which organisers described as “jumping over the wall” before the final stretch towards the Pacific archipelago.
“Can you imagine that a solar-powered airplane without fuel can now fly longer than a jet plane,” Piccard said. “This is a clear message that clean technologies can achieve impossible goals.” Before that hurdle organizers had tweeted “@andreborschberg is tired. W/ turbulence at 8’000 feet & a cold front close, SITUATION IS DIFFICULT.”
The plane, which was piloted by Borschberg when it broke the record, weighs about as much as a family sedan and has 17,000 solar cells across its wingspan. But later came the celebratory tweet, saying the plane had “successfully crossed the second & last front separating him from Hawaii! Everybody clap your hands!”
Overall, its trip around the globe was expected to take some 25 flight days, broken up into 12 legs at speeds between 30 to 60 miles per hour (50 and 100 kph). The pioneering plane is due to land Friday morning local time at Kalaeloa airport on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The Solar Impulse 2 initially left Nanjing, China, on 31 May for Hawaii, but was forced to cut short its bid a day later due to what Borschberg termed “a wall of clouds” over the Pacific. It landed in the central Japanese city of Nagoya. The organizers’ latest estimate for arrival was 1600 GMT, although that could change depending on conditions.
The solo record was previously set in 2006 by American adventurer Steve Fossett, who flew the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer for 76 hours non-stop. Borschberg earlier clocked up more than 100 hours in the air – suprassing the previous longest solo endurance flight by Steve Fossett, who flew for 76 hours and 45 minutes in 2006.
The Solar Impulse remained airborne three consecutive days and nights, producing its own power with solar energy, the pilots said. The whole trip from Japan to Hawaii was expected to take 120 hours.
The Solar Impulse 2 is the first aircraft to fly day and night without any fuel, solely using the sun’s energy. The Swiss aviator has been napping for only 20 minutes at a time to maintain control of the plane. He is equipped with a parachute and life raft, in case he needs to ditch in the Pacific.
The experimental solar-powered aircraft left Japan around 1800 GMT on Sunday – the early hours of Monday local time – after spending a month in the central city of Nagoya.
It was originally scheduled to fly directly from Nanjing in China to Hawaii, but bad weather along the way forced a diversion to Japan that stretched to a month.
Borschberg is alone and entirely self-reliant in the unpressurised cockpit.
Traveling at altitudes of more than 9,000 meters (29,500 feet), he has to use oxygen tanks to breathe and experiences huge swings in temperature throughout the day.
Solar Impulse 2 set off from Abu Dhabi earlier this year in a multi-leg attempt to fly around the world without a single drop of fuel.
It has 17,000 solar cells and on-board rechargeable lithium batteries, allowing it to fly through the night.
Related: Solar aircraft to be flown across the Pacific in world record bidRelated: Solar aircraft to be flown across the Pacific in world record bid
Borschberg navigates alone in an unheated and unpressurised cockpit, sleeping in bursts of 20 minutes while on autopilot. Its wingspan is longer than that of a jumbo jet but it weighs only 2.3 tonnes – about the same as a car.
The next leg of the flight will be from Honolulu to Phoenix, Arizona, and then Borschberg and Piccard will fly together across the Atlantic on a return path to Abu Dhabi. As he approached Hawaii overnight Thursday into Friday, Borschberg flashed a thumbs-up for the camera, in clearly optimistic mood, and sent a message: “At the moment the airplane’s critical components are working well! It’s important to continue this way until the end.”
Studies, design and construction took 12 years and a first version of the craft rolled out in 2009 broke records for heights and distances travelled by a manned solar plane.
“The experience of flight is so intense that I can only focus on the present moment and discover how to deal with my own energy and mindset,” Borschberg said in a statement.