ABU DHABI It is more terrifying to live in a world that burns roughly one million tonnes of fuel every hour than fly a solar plane across the globe, Bertrand Piccard, one of the pilots to embark on a round the world green flight said here on Tuesday.
Piccard and Andre Borscheberg, the Swiss co-founders and pilots of Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) plane are currently in Abu Dhabi making the final preparations for their historic journey that will take off from Abu Dhabi in early March.
Unveiling their global flight route during a press conference at Al Bateen airport, the pilots were talking about the fear factor of flying around the globe in a plane that does not use a drop of fuel.
“The real challenge is to do something that no one has ever attempted to do, and succeed,” said Borscheberg.
Shipped in parts
The first round-the-world solar adventure will take approximately 25 flight days, spread over five months and covering approximately 35,000 kilometres at speeds of 50 to 100 km/h.
The plane will be able to fly day and night, and will land in 12 locations.
Si2 will take off from Abu Dhabi in late February or early March and return by late July or early August.
The route includes stops in Muscat, Oman; Ahmedabad and Varanasi in India; Mandalay, Myanmar; and Chongqing and Nanjing in China. After crossing the Pacific Ocean via Hawaii, Si2 will fly across the US, stopping in three locations – Phoenix, and New York City at JFK. A location in the Midwest will be decided depending on weather conditions. After crossing the Atlantic, the final legs include a stopover in southern Europe or North Africa before arriving back in Abu Dhabi.
Solar Impulse 2 and its crew of 80 technicians, engineers and a communications team arrived in Abu Dhabi on January 6. The plane was shipped in parts and assembled in Abu Dhabi and displayed at the Bateen Airport currently to coincide with the World Energy Summit and the Sustainability Week being held in the city.
During the remainder of the plane’s stay here, the team will conduct safety tests, test flights, and training to prepare for the mission ahead.
“Abu Dhabi is the ideal location for us to start and end our mission. Masdar and Abu Dhabi are setting an example for the entire world, promoting the use of diverse, sustainable and clean energy sources by deploying some of the globe’s most sophisticated renewable energy projects. Most importantly, Masdar shares our unwavering commitment to ensuring a cleaner future for our planet,” said Piccard.
During its stopovers en route, the Solar Impulse team will organize meetings, airplane visits and Google Hangouts On Air in order to promote the mission’s message and highlight innovative technical solutions to climate change.
