Solar Impulse Makes it to Mountain View

Dean Sigler Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

At 11:44 PDT, April 22, Solar Impulse 2, expertly piloted by Bertrand Piccard through tricky winds above Moffett Airfield, made its second landing in the United State, almost three  years after Solar Impulse 1 had left on its flight eastward* and just in time to close out Earth Day. HB-SIA (Solar Impulse 1) made its trip across America in six hops, none lasting more than 21 hours and 22 minutes.  HB-SIB (Solar Impulse 2) flew six hops between Abu Dhabi and Nanjing, China emulating the stages of the American crossing in distance and duration.  Things reached record-setting levels after that.  The 44-hour trip from Nanjing to Nagoya, Japan gave pilot Andre’ Borschberg a real workout, followed by his record-setting 117-hour epic voyage from Nagoya to Kalaeloa, Hawaii.  Fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard finished the trans-pacific flights with a 62-hour flight to San Francisco. The pilots could not do this without a large ground crew, seemingly perpetually busy with preparations, maintenance, and …