Bertrand Piccard just pushed through the night sky, gently kissing the runway with a smooth landing at Moffett Airfield, California, early morning yesterday, April 24. The latest flight had begun on April 21 when Bertrand took off from Kalaeloa Airport, Hawaii to complete the Pacific Crossing. Destination: Moffett Airfield, Mountain View, California, USA. The Pacific Crossing was started last July with a flight from Nagoya to Hawaii that lasted 117 hours and 52 minutes. After 9 months in the Kalaeloa hangar for battery repairs, and as soon as the days were long enough to fly with Si2, the Solar Impulse pilots decided to resume their quest to conquer the full circumference of the earth in a solar-powered airplane - from Abu Dhabi to Abu Dhabi.
By the time our pilot, Bertrand Piccard, got used to his tiny 3.8 meter cockpit, he had already reached Moffett Airfield and had no choice but to land. Jokingly, he told the CAPCOM, “I could continue all the way to New York!†He touched down on the Moffett Airfield runway 62 hours after takeoff at 6:44AM UTC, 8:44AM CET on April 24th, and 11:44PM PT on April 23rd.
André Borschberg said “This flight was a huge step in the adventure and Bertrand Piccard accomplished it like a professional pilot.â€
The Solar Impulse team could not have asked for a better window to complete the Pacific Crossing solar flight. They were teased at the start with a slight takeoff delay due to windy conditions on the runway, however the rest of the flight followed smoothly.
“We were lucky to be flying on April 22nd during Earth Day and the day when 175 dedicated World Leaders signed the Paris Climate Agreement at the United Nations Headquarters in New York,†Borschberg added. Bertrand Piccard had a conversation with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon live from the cockpit in front of all 175 Heads of States. Finally, with clear blue skies and calm winds, it was the perfect flight to show that clean technologies can improve quality of life. Bertrand ended the flight with an epic flyover of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city of San Francisco.
