{"id":9708,"date":"2015-03-09T12:49:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T19:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=9708"},"modified":"2015-03-09T12:49:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T19:49:11","slug":"solar-impulse-first-leg-epic-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/solar-impulse-first-leg-epic-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Impulse on First Leg of Epic Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solar Impulse 2<\/a>, under the control of Andr\u00e9 Borschberg, took off at 7:12 a. m. (03:12 UTC) Abu Dhabi time, on the first leg of its around-the-world voyage.\u00a0 The roughly 400 kilometers (215 nautical miles) between Abu Dhabi and Muscat, Oman \u2013 the airplane\u2019s first stop \u2013 takes less than an hour by airliner and around five hours (according to Google Maps) by Maybach or lesser motor vehicle.\u00a0 It took Andr\u00e9 nine hours, one minute for this leg, traveling at ultralight speeds.\u00a0 His landing was tweeted as looking like a UFO descending, LED landing lights ablaze and advancing slowly overhead.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the control room, Bertrand Piccard and His Serene Highness Prince Albert\u00a0II of Monaco followed the flight with advice and encouragement.\u00a0 His Highness helps promote aviation ventures which show promise for cleaning the atmosphere, including record attempts by Jean-Luc Soullier <\/a>in his electric aircraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

(NOTE: You might have to scroll the video to the beginning to see all the action, but the landing itself begins at about the 37:00 mark.)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Zs_2e3b81_0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a nice baby step, a kind of final shakedown cruise before the second leg takes it over the Gulf of Oman and the northern part of the Arabian Sea to Ahmedabad, India.\u00a0 That flight will be about 1,435 kilometers (892 miles) as traversed by commercial airliner, and although not delineated in Google Maps, well over 60 hours by car, taking a big loop around the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iran, and Pakistan.\u00a0 Many border crossings would doubtless slow progress.<\/p>\n

The next leg will be the longest over-water trip thus far in either Solar Impulses\u2019 careers.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s a good trial of machine and pilot for what will be epic flights over the world\u2019s great oceans, taking five days and nights for each major water crossing.<\/p>\n

With the safe landing of Andre\u2019 Borschberg in Oman, a ground crew immediately started preparing HB-SIB for its first long over water flight, which will make a hoped-for uneventful passage to India.<\/p>\n