Abu Dhabi: Solar Impulse 2, the first solar plane circumnavigating the globe without a drop of fuel, has postponed its historic final flight from Cairo in Egypt to Abu Dhabi from where it started its epic journey in March, 2015.
Although the Solar Impulse team was making arrangements for the plane (Si2) to take off between Saturday midnight and Sunday early morning, certain unexpected developments caused the delay.
“Due to different factors the flight towards Abu Dhabi is postponed,” an official spokesperson of Solar Impulse told Gulf News from Cairo Saturday midnight.
“Indeed there is too much wind to bring the aircraft out of the tent. Moreover Bertrand Piccard [the co-founder and co-pilot of Si-2 who has to fly the plane] is feeling sick and prefers to postpone the flight until he feels better and until we can identify another good weather window,” she explained.
“We're sorry for the turn of the events and we will contact you [announce the new departure time and date] as soon as the engineers find a favourable weather window for Solar Impulse 2 to take off,” the spokesperson said.
Bertrand Piccard explained his condition in a tweet: “I'm sick. Stomach upset. I prefer to postpone the take-off @solarimpulse. I cannot go flying for 48 hours in that shape. Sorry.”
Andre Borschberg, the co-founder and co-pilot of Solar Impulse 2 (Si-2), told Gulf News in a telephone interview on Saturday evening from Cairo that
the flight to Abu Dhabi might take around 48 hours, which could be extended up to 72 hours, depending on the weather conditions.
Borschberg flew the plane from Spain and landed at Cairo last Wednesday morning, marking the penultimate leg of the first round-the-world solar flight. It was also the last flight of Borschberg in this epic mission, before Bertrand Piccard takes the controls for the last leg to Abu Dhabi.
