Solar Impulse takes flight!
HB-SIA cockpit, ©Le Truc/Solar Impulse
We have been following the Solar Impulse project since this past summer, here, here and here. What began as a fascinating idea is now a reality – at 13.11 today, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA, the first airplane designed to fly day and night without fuel, left the ground for the first time.
After overwhelming positive ground tests conducted over the past few weeks, test pilot Markus Scherdel got the go-ahead to take the prototype up to its take-off speed. After some 350 metres of flight at an altitude of one meter, the prototype landed on the center of the runway.
Starting in early 2010 onwards, the aircraft will be making its first solar test flights, gradually increasing flight duration until it makes its first night flight using solar energy.
As Bertrand Piccard, initiator and President of Solar Impulse said, “It’s a long way between these initial tests and a circumnavigation of the world” but we are excited to follow the journey.
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