Abu Dhabi: The Solar Impulse 2 team, currently in the Chinese city of Nanjing, is waiting for a clear weather window to attempt the Pacific Ocean crossing on its way to Hawaii.
The flight was supposed to take off on May 25, but the flight mission team decided that the bad weather was too great a risk to take on the route.
The plane is the first solar-powered aircraft to attempt to circumnavigate the globe using only solar energy as fuel.
Andre Borschberg will pilot the Solar Impulse 2 on the 8,172km journey, which is expected to take five days and nights.
The flight across the Pacific will be a feat of endurance for the pilot and support teams that constantly monitor and plan the plane’s route.
Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and Borschberg are the founders, pilots and driving force behind the Solar Impulse programme.
By attempting the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, they want to demonstrate that clean technologies and renewable energies can achieve the impossible.
The flight started from Abu Dhabi on March 9. The route included stop-overs in Oman, India, Myanmar and China. After crossing the Pacific Ocean via Hawaii, the solar plane will fly across the US and then the Atlantic Ocean, heading back to Abu Dhabi.
The trend of unstable weather in the Pacific has taken a turn for the worse. A combination of factors put the flight at risk, including cloud levels reducing charging capacity, and considerable holding and loitering times to get through the front, that may force a seven-day flight on the team, pushing the pilot to extremes.
