Peter Capella
PAYERNE, Switzerland – Confidence soared among the crew of an experimental solar-powered aircraft on Wednesday as it cruised above Switzerland in a historic bid to fly around the clock and prove the value of solar energy.
More than five hours into the ambitious 25 hour flight, the crew's chief weather forecaster said the threat of strong high altitude winds and late thunderstorms above the Swiss Alps was receding.
And team chief Bertrand Piccard reported that the pilot had to switch off solar collectors charging the onboard batteries for overnight power because they were working too well.
"Until now, let's cross our fingers, everything is going extremely well. Over the mountains we have... no clouds, the sky is completely clear," added Piccard, who made the first non-stop round-the-world flight in a balloon in 1999.
Solar Impulse whirred along the runway at Payerne in western Switzerland shortly after daybreak, reaching 35 kilometres per hour (22 mph) as lone pilot Andre Borschberg gently took off into clear summer skies at 6:51 am (0451 GMT).
"Conditions are really beautiful up here, I feel great," Borschberg told AFP by radio a few hours later, as he cruised over the Jura hills in northern Switzerland.
"I've been dreaming about this for seven years since we started the project, everybody on the team was looking forward to this very special day and I can tell you I'm really enjoying it," he added.
The Swiss pilot's take-off run took barely 90 metres, testimony to the light weight and giant airliner-size wingspan of the single seater craft, which relies totally on 12,000 solar cells and nearly half a tonne of batteries.
"The goal is to take to the air with no fuel. The goal is to show that we can be much more independent from fossil energy than people usually think," Piccard said.
The aircraft was flying at 4,075 metres (13,000 feet), slowly gaining altitude to reach an apogee of 8,500 metres at sundown, before a slow night-time descent.
The space mission-like ground control crew were due to decide shortly before dusk whether Borschberg should test his own limits of endurance by pressing on with a pioneering flight through darkness and landing at Payerne shortly after dawn on Thursday morning.
"If we have a problem -- weather, technology or energy -- then we have to bring the plane down so that he lands before 10:00 local time tonight. That will be the moment of decision," explained Piccard.
Joint flight control chief and former astronaut Claude Nicollier said: "We're confident the plane can do it."
The overnight flight by the prototype is the first major hurdle for the project since it was set up seven years ago, with the aim of flying around the world by 2013 or 2014.
Solar Impulse relies on the sun to power the engines and charge the batteries, in theory storing enough energy to last through some seven to eight hours of darkness.
A first round the clock attempt was called off an hour before scheduled take-off last Thursday after an electronic component failed, but the aircraft has flown for up to 14 hours straight in daylight in recent weeks.
The single seater shaped like a giant dragonfly is clad with solar panels across a wingspan the size of anAirbus A340 airliner (63 metres).
But the high tech craft is powered by just four small electric motors and propellors -- as the crew put it, the "power of a scooter" -- and weighs little more than a saloon car.
Success on Thursday would set the stage for ocean crossings, transcontinental and round-the-world flights over the coming years.
The pioneering bid is being monitored by the international aeronautical federation (FIA), which oversees aviation records. - AFP
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Swiss solar plane makes history with 26-hr flight
A solar powered aircraft made history Thursday after flying around the clock on the sun's energy alone, bringing the dream of perpetual flight a step closer.
After 26 hours in the air, the experimental Solar Impulse aircraft, flown by Andre Borschberg, made a seamless landing at Payerne airbase in western Switzerland at 9.01 am (0701 GMT), about three hours after daybreak.
"It's the first time ever that a solar airplane has flown through the night," said Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss adventurer who masterminded the project.
A euphoric Borschberg alighted from the single-seater plane to congratulations and slaps on the back from the 70-strong support team.
"I have the impression that I'm still in the air," the 57-year-old said.
"I feel very pleased, really happy. It was a crucial step. Now we'll go even further, we'll do long missions," he added.
The aircraft had taken off from Payerne at 0451 GMT Wednesday, for 14 hours of sunshine to power its engines and charge its batteries for the night flight.
Its wings -- a 63-metres (207-feet) span that matches the Airbus A340 airliner -- are covered with an array of 12,000 solar cells.
Flight director Claude Nicollier, himself a former space shuttle astronaut, said the flight had exceeded expectations.
"We needed also a litle bit of luck, which we had with the weather which was absolutely perfect," he said on Thursday morning.
As darkness fell Wednesday, there had been fears that a brief burst of strong high-altitude winds had deprived Solar Impulse of some of the stored energy to last the night.
But Borschberg seemed unflustered by his 26-hour experience, speaking only of "one or two little difficulties."
"The flight was really zen. It's very peaceful, during this time you have the time to think and to concentrate," he said.
For project leader Piccard, who achieved the first round-the-world balloon flight in 1999 and whose father and grandfather both broke height and depth records, it was a moment to savour.
He revealed that Solar Impulse had emerged from darkness with three hours of energy left in its batteries, far more than had been expected.
And by the time it landed, it had already taken advantage of the new burst of energy from the rising sun to recharge its batteries.
"Nothing can prevent us from another day and night... and the myth of perpetual flight," an elated Piccard told journalists.
The team is driven by a desire to demonstrate that clean energy and fuel saving is technically feasible and should be developed and used more widely for transport, in the household and at work.
Each of the four electric motors produced up to ten horsepower -- six kilowatts -- each barely more than the one that helped the Wright Brothers to make history in 1903 by hopping off the ground on the first powered flight.
"We didn't really have credibility until today," admitted Piccard.
"What we have done today in the air is an example of what should be done on the ground."
Already he was looking ahead to the next challenge, including possible transatlantic and round-the-world flights in 2013-2014.
"The second airplane will perform even better with lighter, thinner solar cells and more efficient systems," he added.
But they needed new partners to help fill a 20 percent shortfall in its 100-million-franc (75-million-euro, 95-million-dollar) budget, he said. - AFP
PAYERNE, Switzerland – Confidence soared among the crew of an experimental solar-powered aircraft on Wednesday as it cruised above Switzerland in a historic bid to fly around the clock and prove the value of solar energy.
More than five hours into the ambitious 25 hour flight, the crew's chief weather forecaster said the threat of strong high altitude winds and late thunderstorms above the Swiss Alps was receding.
And team chief Bertrand Piccard reported that the pilot had to switch off solar collectors charging the onboard batteries for overnight power because they were working too well.
"Until now, let's cross our fingers, everything is going extremely well. Over the mountains we have... no clouds, the sky is completely clear," added Piccard, who made the first non-stop round-the-world flight in a balloon in 1999.
Solar Impulse whirred along the runway at Payerne in western Switzerland shortly after daybreak, reaching 35 kilometres per hour (22 mph) as lone pilot Andre Borschberg gently took off into clear summer skies at 6:51 am (0451 GMT).
"Conditions are really beautiful up here, I feel great," Borschberg told AFP by radio a few hours later, as he cruised over the Jura hills in northern Switzerland.
"I've been dreaming about this for seven years since we started the project, everybody on the team was looking forward to this very special day and I can tell you I'm really enjoying it," he added.
The Swiss pilot's take-off run took barely 90 metres, testimony to the light weight and giant airliner-size wingspan of the single seater craft, which relies totally on 12,000 solar cells and nearly half a tonne of batteries.
"The goal is to take to the air with no fuel. The goal is to show that we can be much more independent from fossil energy than people usually think," Piccard said.
The aircraft was flying at 4,075 metres (13,000 feet), slowly gaining altitude to reach an apogee of 8,500 metres at sundown, before a slow night-time descent.
The space mission-like ground control crew were due to decide shortly before dusk whether Borschberg should test his own limits of endurance by pressing on with a pioneering flight through darkness and landing at Payerne shortly after dawn on Thursday morning.
"If we have a problem -- weather, technology or energy -- then we have to bring the plane down so that he lands before 10:00 local time tonight. That will be the moment of decision," explained Piccard.
Joint flight control chief and former astronaut Claude Nicollier said: "We're confident the plane can do it."
The overnight flight by the prototype is the first major hurdle for the project since it was set up seven years ago, with the aim of flying around the world by 2013 or 2014.
Solar Impulse relies on the sun to power the engines and charge the batteries, in theory storing enough energy to last through some seven to eight hours of darkness.
A first round the clock attempt was called off an hour before scheduled take-off last Thursday after an electronic component failed, but the aircraft has flown for up to 14 hours straight in daylight in recent weeks.
The single seater shaped like a giant dragonfly is clad with solar panels across a wingspan the size of anAirbus A340 airliner (63 metres).
But the high tech craft is powered by just four small electric motors and propellors -- as the crew put it, the "power of a scooter" -- and weighs little more than a saloon car.
Success on Thursday would set the stage for ocean crossings, transcontinental and round-the-world flights over the coming years.
The pioneering bid is being monitored by the international aeronautical federation (FIA), which oversees aviation records. - AFP
-------------------------
Swiss solar plane makes history with 26-hr flight
A solar powered aircraft made history Thursday after flying around the clock on the sun's energy alone, bringing the dream of perpetual flight a step closer.
After 26 hours in the air, the experimental Solar Impulse aircraft, flown by Andre Borschberg, made a seamless landing at Payerne airbase in western Switzerland at 9.01 am (0701 GMT), about three hours after daybreak.
"It's the first time ever that a solar airplane has flown through the night," said Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss adventurer who masterminded the project.
A euphoric Borschberg alighted from the single-seater plane to congratulations and slaps on the back from the 70-strong support team.
"I have the impression that I'm still in the air," the 57-year-old said.
"I feel very pleased, really happy. It was a crucial step. Now we'll go even further, we'll do long missions," he added.
The aircraft had taken off from Payerne at 0451 GMT Wednesday, for 14 hours of sunshine to power its engines and charge its batteries for the night flight.
Its wings -- a 63-metres (207-feet) span that matches the Airbus A340 airliner -- are covered with an array of 12,000 solar cells.
Flight director Claude Nicollier, himself a former space shuttle astronaut, said the flight had exceeded expectations.
"We needed also a litle bit of luck, which we had with the weather which was absolutely perfect," he said on Thursday morning.
As darkness fell Wednesday, there had been fears that a brief burst of strong high-altitude winds had deprived Solar Impulse of some of the stored energy to last the night.
But Borschberg seemed unflustered by his 26-hour experience, speaking only of "one or two little difficulties."
"The flight was really zen. It's very peaceful, during this time you have the time to think and to concentrate," he said.
For project leader Piccard, who achieved the first round-the-world balloon flight in 1999 and whose father and grandfather both broke height and depth records, it was a moment to savour.
He revealed that Solar Impulse had emerged from darkness with three hours of energy left in its batteries, far more than had been expected.
And by the time it landed, it had already taken advantage of the new burst of energy from the rising sun to recharge its batteries.
"Nothing can prevent us from another day and night... and the myth of perpetual flight," an elated Piccard told journalists.
The team is driven by a desire to demonstrate that clean energy and fuel saving is technically feasible and should be developed and used more widely for transport, in the household and at work.
Each of the four electric motors produced up to ten horsepower -- six kilowatts -- each barely more than the one that helped the Wright Brothers to make history in 1903 by hopping off the ground on the first powered flight.
"We didn't really have credibility until today," admitted Piccard.
"What we have done today in the air is an example of what should be done on the ground."
Already he was looking ahead to the next challenge, including possible transatlantic and round-the-world flights in 2013-2014.
"The second airplane will perform even better with lighter, thinner solar cells and more efficient systems," he added.
But they needed new partners to help fill a 20 percent shortfall in its 100-million-franc (75-million-euro, 95-million-dollar) budget, he said. - AFP
