Abu Dhabi: Solar Impulse-2 (Si2), the first solar flight on a global trip, will continue its journey from Ahmedabad in India on Wednesday morning.
The flight that embarked on the historic five-month long global flight from Abu Dhabi on Monday morning (March 9), landed in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night after crossing the Arabian Sea, completing the longest distance ever flown by a solar airplane in aviation history.
“More important to us than the world record is the fact that Solar Impulse 2 is the first solar aeroplane to fly in Asia,” Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, who take turns as the pilot of Si2 said after landing in Ahmedabad.
Although the flight was scheduled to take off from Ahmedabad on Saturday, bad weather caused the delay.
Si2 will continue its journey on Wednesday early morning to Varanasi in India, a senior executive of Solar Impulse, the organisation that built Si2, told Gulf News on Monday evening.
There maybe some changes, subject to weather conditions, said Alexandra Gindroz, Media Relations Manager at Solar Impulse. It may take around 10 hours to reach Varanasi, she said.
Then Si2 will fly to Mandalay in Myanmar, where it will halt for two days, she said. The flight will continue its journey to Chongqing and Nanjing in China, Gindroz said.
She said weather is the only factor that affects the planned schedule of the flight. “Otherwise all other arrangements are perfect.”
Si-2 will fly day and night and land in 12 locations across the world in its five-month-long journey to promote renewable energy. It will travel 35,000 kilometres in the first attempt to fly around the globe without using a drop of fuel.
Si2, which is supported by Masdar, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is expected to return to Abu Dhabi by late July or early August.
After crossing the Pacific Ocean via Hawaii, Si2 will fly across Continental US stopping over in three locations — Phoenix and New York City at JFK International Airport. A location in the Midwest will be decided depending on weather conditions.
After crossing the Atlantic, the final leg includes a stop-over in southern Europe or North Africa before returning to Abu Dhabi.
Si2 aims to raise awareness about the potential of clean energy. Si2 has used many innovative technologies that can improve people’s lives in many sectors. The technology used for building the cockpit can triple the capacity of refrigerators. Lighting of the flight is the most energy-efficient technology.
