Any pilot who\u2019s had to land an airplane at its crosswind limit knows that each airplane has a point where its controls cannot overcome the sideways force, and one cannot perform the final level, straight-down-the-runway touchdown.\u00a0 Usually, pilots do a go-around or find a more wind-oriented runway.\u00a0 Solar Impulse\u2019s explanation under the video tells why this is almost impossible under deteriorating conditions with a craft as huge and slow as SI2.<\/p>\n
Take note of the control inputs test pilot Marcus Scherdel makes in the final moments of the August 30, 2014 flight.<\/p>\n
The Solar Impulse team released this video in the last week, perhaps to\u00a0explain why the crew is waiting for a positive \u201cweather window\u201d before embarking on a\u00a0planned five-day epic voyage from Nanjing, China to Hawaii.<\/p>\n