Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg have launched their attempt at flying round-the-world in a solar-powered airplane. The aircraft, Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) took-off Monday March 9,2015, at 7:12am (03:12UTC) from Abu Dhabi (Al Bateen Executive Airport, AZI/OMAD) in the United Arab Emirates, en route to Muscat (Muscat International Airport, MCT/OOMS) in the Sultanate of Oman.
Borschberg is the pilot on the first stage of the flight. He will fly over Masdar City and then onward over the northern Al Hajar al Gharbi Mountains and the Gulf of Oman. After flying the zero-fuel airplane about 400km (215nm), landing in Muscat was expected at 7pm (15:00 UTC). Piccard will take the controls and continue to Ahmedabad, India (VAAH), the following day.
Solar Impulse 2 was disassembled in Switzerland (Payerne Airfield) during November 2014 and shipped to Abu Dhabi on Jan. 5, 2015. Welcomed by Host Partner Masdar, the engineers and mission team have been preparing the departure of the First Round-The-World Solar Flight in Al Bateen Executive Airport. A trial flight in the UAE was conducted in late February.
Solar Impulse 2 – the upgraded version of the initial solar-powered prototype, Solar Impulse – has a wingspan of 72m and weighs 2.3t. The aircraft’s wings carry 17,000 solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity to charge batteries and power the electric propulsion motors.
Late update: Night landing accomplished at 20:13pm (16:13UTC) in Muscat. Takeoff on leg 2 is expected at 6am (02:00UTC) March 10, 2015.
Source: Solar Impulse