A Solar Powered Plane Lands In Hawaii After Five Day Flight

[donganaaK]

A plane powered by the sun's rays has touched down in Hawaii after a record-breaking, five-day journey.
Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg landed his single-seat aircraft on Friday at Kalaeloa, a small airport outside Honolulu.
He took off from Nagoya, Japan, about 120 hours ago, which would be the world's longest nonstop solo flight in an aircraft.                                                                                                                           

The plane, called the Solar Impulse 2, is expected fly from Hawaii to Phoenix, Arizona, and from there to New York.
“Nobody now can say that renewable energies cannot do the impossible,” Borschberg told the AP.

The Solar Impulse 2 first took off from Abu Dhabi in March with the goal of taking the first solar-powered trip around the entire world.

The Japan to Hawaii trip is the eighth leg of a 13-legged journey across six continents. The two pilots, Borschberg, 62, and Bertrand Piccard, 57, switch off piloting each leg by themselves.

The leg that is expected to be completed on Friday was the longest and most dangerous part of the journey yet. When BuzzFeed News interviewed the pilots back in May, Borschberg talked about the risky flight.
“This is the exciting part, this is the proof,” said Borshberg. “This is the unknown.”
The plane runs entirely on solar power, which simultaneously keeps the plane running and charges a battery for night-flying. If there was not enough sun at some point in the cross-ocean journey, the plane would have stopped functioning in mid-air.
“But we have a life raft,” Borschberg said calmly.
From Phoenix, Solar Impulse will head for New York and an Atlantic crossing that would eventually see the plane return to Abu Dhabi.
But, first, the Solar Impulse ground crew in Kalaeloa will need a few days to check over the aircraft.

During this servicing, meteorologists will once again take on the tricky task of finding a suitable flight window.
Getting Solar Impulse to Hawaii proved more problematic than anyone could have imagined.

The project was stuck in Nanjing, China, for five weeks before the first attempt to cross the ocean was made.

Solar Impulse's slow speed, light weight and 72m wingspan put significant constraints on the type of weather the vehicle can handle, and that first sortie was aborted after just one day in the air because of a fast developing cold front ahead of it.

Mr Borschberg diverted to Nagoya, and then had to wait a further month before being given the green light on Monday to again take off for Kalaeloa.
Even so, he has had to cross two weather fronts this week and has endured some uncomfortable turbulence as a consequence.

The plane circled above the airport a few times before coming into land

 

The Solar Impulse plane is not really intended to be a vision of the future of aviation. Rather, it is supposed to be a demonstration of the current capabilities of solar power in general.

The vehicle is covered in 17,000 photovoltaic cells. These either power the vehicle's electric motors directly, or charge its lithium-ion batteries, which sustain the plane during the night hours.

Mr Piccard told reporters at Kalaeloa: "Andre's flight was longer than all the other single-seater flights that had fuel. That's an incredible message.
"Now you can fly longer with no fuel than you can with fuel. So, what Andre has done is not only a historic first for aviation, it's a historic first for renewable energies. And this is why we are doing this project."

[Balibabu]

Japan to Hawai is critical leg.... super ga complete chesaru kada

[donganaaK]

Japan to Hawai is critical leg.... super ga complete chesaru kada

 

yeah sounds like a big leap ... 

[Balibabu]

yeah sounds like a big leap ... 

 

almost do or die lantidi vallaki backup lekuntey

[donganaaK]

almost do or die lantidi vallaki backup lekuntey

 

yeah theda ochindi ante punch padudhi :D