Solar Impulse Lands in Desert at Night

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

But that’s a good thing, because it was on a nice runway with landing lights to help guide it down.  On June 22, at 25 minutes after midnight, local time, André Borschberg touched down at Quarzazate, the site of Morocco’s huge new solar generating plant.  Its second attempt at reaching this destination, Solar Impulse was flown through mid-day turbulence and shifting winds, but did not turn back as it had on the first attempt the week before. The project’s press release provides an outline of the flight.  “The Solar Impulse airplane took-off this morning at 07:05 (UTC+1) from Rabat-Salé. After flying in the direction of Casablanca, the HB-SIA made its way inland towards Marrakesh, avoiding the Atlas Mountains, and flying in the direction of the desert.”  After flying 17 hours and 20 minutes, covering 683 kilometers (423 miles) Borschberg brought the airplane in for a perfect landing. The project reports, “‘It was a beautiful flight with some amazing contrasts between …