Solar-powered plane resumes round-the-world flight after months-long delay
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029761
NPR : After being grounded in Hawaii for the past nine months, Solar Impulse 2, an experimental solar-powered aircraft, was finally able to take off and continue on the next leg of its historic trip around the world. Pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg began their journey in March 2015, when the plane took off from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Because the craft holds just one person, the two pilots take turns flying it. In June 2015, Borschberg broke the record for the longest solo flight without refueling: He flew almost 118 hours straight from Japan to Hawaii. During the flight, however, the plane’s batteries overheated; the repair ended up taking months. Piccard finally resumed the historic trip on 21 April, when, despite gusty winds, he took off for Mountain View, California.
