![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/solar-impulse-payerne-madrid-takeoff-528x353.jpg\" "\\"solar")
<\/a>HB-SIA takes off from Payerne, Switzerland for its 17-hour flight to Madrid, Spain. Photo courtesy Solar Impulse<\/p><\/div>\n
The project\u2019s blog explains, \u201cThe Solar Impulse airplane took-off this morning at 08h24AM (UTC+2) from Payerne aerodrome in Switzerland following the previously scheduled flight plan over the Pyrenees. The aircraft flew over the Massif Central towards the city of Toulouse (France), flying over the Pyrenees mountain range at an altitude of 7’833 meters (25,699 feet) and finally arriving in Spain, landing on Runway 33L.\u201d\u00a0 The airplane managed the 1,191 kilometer (738 mile) voyage at an average ground speed of 89 kilometers per hour (55 mph) and reached a peak altitude of 8,500 meters (27,888 feet).<\/p>\n
(Patrick McLaughlin is a close friend who spoke at the sixth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium on his remarkable motor controller.\u00a0 He is also the founder of Mountain High Oxygen<\/a> in Redmond, Oregon, the exclusive supplier of oxygen systems to Solar Impulse.\u00a0 His electronic delivery system (EDS) ensures that a charge of air enters the pilot\u2019s lungs at just the right pressure for a given altitude and at the right point in the pilot\u2019s breathing cycle, based on readings of physiological variables.\u00a0 Your editor would like to think that helped account for Andre\u2019 Borschberg\u2019s alertness during the long trip.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe flight went very well and thanks to the team of meteorologists, everything went according to the plan: it was extraordinary\u201d Said Andr\u00e9 Borschberg \u201cIt was incredible to fly alongside the barrier of clouds during most of the flight and not need to hesitate to fly above them. This confirms our confidence in the capacity of solar energy even further.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the high patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and King Mohammed VI of Morocco, and by invitation from the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy<\/a> (Masen), the flight is intended to \u201craise awareness [of] solar energy\u2019s potential to minimize global dependence on petrol and its derivatives.<\/p>\n Solar Impulse\u2019s arrival in Rabat, Morocco will coincide with the beginning of construction of the world\u2019s largest thermo-solar power plant in the Quarzazate region of the host country.\u00a0 With 160 megawatts capacity, the plant is the first of five solar parks which will have a total output of 2,000 MW and reduce CO2 emissions by 3.7 million tons from those of equivalent fossil-fuel powered facilities.<\/p>\n “\u2019Solar Impulse symbolizes the pioneering and explorer spirit necessary to find new solutions, outside of old habits and certainties, to respond to today’s challenges.\u2019 Said Bertrand Piccard at the Solar Impulse HB-SIA landed on the runway.”<\/p>\n Dramatic night landing of Solar Impulse in Madrid. Photo courtesy Solar Impulse\/Jean Revillard<\/p><\/div>\n After a three-day technical check-up, project founder and Chairman Bertrand Piccard will fly HB-SIA 800 kilometers (496 miles) across the Mediterranean to Rabat-Sale\u2019 airport, a 20-hour crossing.<\/p>\n Readers can continue to follow the flight live on\u00a0www.solarimpulse.com<\/a>\u00a0as well as via\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0(for\u00a0Andr\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Bertrand<\/a>),\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and via the Smartphone app ‘Solar Impulse Inventing the Future’.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20120524_crossingfrontiers_flightpayerne-madrid_JeanREvillard-06821-528x353.jpg\" "\\"20120524_crossingfrontiers_flightpayerne-madrid_JeanREvillard-0682\\"")
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