The Swiss solar plane Solar Impulse which took off Saturday, May 31st, 2015 at 2:39 am local time from Nanjing, China, to cross the Pacific for Hawaii was obliged to make an intermediate landing in japan due to worsening weather conditions. (Photo – Bertrand Piccard Initiator, Chairman and pilot with Mission Director, Raymond Clerc just after the safe landing of André Borschberg in Nagoya, Japan.)
After a successful start and 44 hours of flight, breaking all the duration and distance records for a solar powered airplane, the Solar Impulse weather team observed the development to a cold front en route to Hawaii which would be too difficult to cross. During a few hours of holding position above the Japanese Sea the experts at the Mission Control Center in Monaco analyzed the situation, and took the difficult decision to divert pilot André Borschberg toward Nagoya-Komaki Airport. The Solar Impulse mission will now wait for optimal weather conditions in order to continue its flight around the world via Hawaii.
“Of course we are a bit disappointed not to have made the flight nonstop to Hawaii, but elated that our solar airplane made such a great demonstration of the potential of clean technologies by flying 2 days and 2 nights without fuel!” said Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse Initiator, Chairman and pilot.
The plane performed extremely well and only the weather couldn’t match the high expectations of flying even longer on solar power.
André Borschberg, Co-Founder, CEO and pilot of Solar Impulse said “I know the decision to divert to Nagoya has not been easy to take by the Monaco Control Center, because the technical aspect of the flight was going so well. This landing has been made possible by the extraordinary support of all the Japanese Authorities for which Solar Impulse is thankful!”
Information on Flight 7: Nanjing (China) to Nagoya (Japan)
Pilot: André Borschberg, Solar Impulse Co-Founder and CEO
When: Take-off at 2:39 am local time on May 31st, 2015 (6:39 pm GMT on May 30, 2015)
Landed at 11:49 pm local time Japan on June 1st, 2015 (2:49 pm GMT on June 1 , 2015)
Flight time: 44:10 hours
Maximum altitude: 8,634 m (28,000 ft)
Average speed: 65 km/h
Flight distance: 2,852 km
You can download information, photographs and B-roll footage in the press section of the Solar Impulse website: http://press.solarimpulse.com
Track the flight LIVE on www.solarimpulse.com
