First International Solar Flight a Success

Solar Impulse has successfully completed the first international flight on solar power alone in flying history. The historical flight took it from Switzerland to Belgium where the airplane will be on display during the Green Week in Brussels.

Solar Impulse in flight

The prototype solar aircraft Solar Impulse constructed by Bertrand Piccard and his team has made the first international flight from Payerne in Switzerland to Brussels in Belgium. The flight took 13 hours including the wait at Brussels to get permission to land. The latest scion of ‘the First Family of Science’ has managed to tag a further ‘first’ to the impressive Piccard family palmares.

The start of the flight was delayed by over two hours due to dense ground fog in Payerne. It took Solar Impulse from Switzerland over France and Luxembourg into Belgium at an average altitude of 3,800 m (12,500 ft). The whole flight was accessible on internet through Twitter and Facebook (among others); a camera installed in the cockpit allowed the interested to take a look at the controlling panels in the airplane.

When Solar Impulse touched down in Brussels, a great cheer from the gathered crowd could be heard. Spectators and Brussels officials had gathered for the estimated landing time at 9 p.m. to be witnesses to that historic flight. Not the least to cheer was Bertrand Piccard as the whole flight had gone without a hitch. He later confessed that he had had nightmares for weeks of an empty hangar in Brussels with a notice ‘no exhibit due to technical glitches’.

Brussels air control Belgocontrol on the other hand called the incoming flight for landing a nightmare. They described it as a feat similar to getting a pedestrian over a suburban motorway during rush hour. Solar Impulse flies a top speed of 70 kph (43 mph) with four 7.5 kW engines powered by solar energy alone.

Solar Impulse will remain in Brussels for the coming Green Week conference on resource efficiency from May 20 to 24. The airplane will fly from Brussels to Paris-Le Bourget end of this month to be presented at the 49th Paris Air Show from June 20 to 26 as a special guest. Solar Impulse should take off for daily flight displays though the organizers of the air show are aware of the difficulties they will be facing (meteorological, organizational, technical) to accomplish this.

The latest flights are part of the further plans by Bertrand Piccard to be the first human to fly non-stop around the world on solar power alone in 2013. He should know the way as he was the first human to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon.

Further reading
The First Family of Science: The Piccard Scientists
The Race for the First Flight Over The Channel
Antoine de Saint Exupery and the Lost Prince