Sun-powered Solar Impulse plane begins marathon Pacific flight

By Bryony Jones, CNN

Updated 0121 GMT (0821 HKT) May 31, 2015

CNN)Five days, five nights, one pilot -- and no fuel; Solar Impulse, the plane aiming to fly around the world powered only by the sun, has taken off on the toughest leg of its round-the-world voyage.

The 8,000-kilometer (4,971-mile) journey from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii -- dubbed the "moment of truth" by alternating pilots Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard --was delayed several times because of poor conditions over the Pacific.

But in the early hours of Sunday (Saturday afternoon, ET), Solar Impulse successfully embarked on the lengthy leg of the journey.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/30/asia/solar-impulse-plane-pacific-crossing/

-- CNN 2015-05-31

You can follow the progress of this flight on the following web page and links on this page:

http://www.solarimpulse.com/sitv

Poor weather forces solar-powered plane Solar Impulse to make unscheduled stop in Japan en route from China to Hawaii /BBC

At a weight of 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) I hope they haven't skimped on parachutes and ocean survival equipment.

It appears the global warmists in their zeal to reduce the use of fossil fuels may now accomplish something Jules Verne once dreamed about:

"Around the World in 80 Days"

It appears the global warmists in their zeal to reduce the use of fossil fuels may now accomplish something Jules Verne once dreamed about:

"Around the World in 80 Days"

Meh, it's just a stunt for those who still don't know that you can get energy from solar panels.

Wonderful plane - wingspan of a jumbo jet and payload of, er, nothing.

It's a record breaking attempt which will hopefully lift the awareness of what's possible with solar power. The real challenge would all the way round the world without stopping

Maybe a small gasoline engine for those night flights.

Removed a nonsensical post.

It appears the global warmists in their zeal to reduce the use of fossil fuels may now accomplish something Jules Verne once dreamed about:

"Around the World in 80 Days"

The motivation probably had something to do with reducing dependence on fossil fuels, but you are getting a little OTT on the global warming thing.

It's an experimental plane, in some ways not to different from that little contraption that the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk that didn't go very far, but it started a revolution that hasn't been stopped.

Science and progress are a good thing. Necessity is the mother of invention.

"Solar Impulse had already waited more than a month in Nanjing for the right weather conditions to open up over the Pacific.

It needs not only favourable winds to push forward, but also cloud-free skies during the day to soak up enough energy from the Sun to enable nighttime flying on its batteries." - Ref: BBC Science-environment Article

I guess regularly-scheduled flights are out of the question for the forseeable future.

Tough crowd on here.

There's people on planet earth that want to push boundaries and risk their lives doing something never achieved before.

Then there's people making smartass comments on the internet.

I wonder which future historians will credit?

I am sure there were smart asses saying "that'll never take off" about the Wright brothers

Tough crowd on here.

There's people on planet earth that want to push boundaries and risk their lives doing something never achieved before.

Then there's people making smartass comments on the internet.

I wonder which future historians will credit?

I am sure there were smart asses saying "that'll never take off" about the Wright brothers

I doubt there were very many saying "that'll never take off" about their first flight in 1903 given that "In 1902 they came to the beach with their glider and made more than 700 successful flights". (Eye Witness to History.com) before attempting the historic powered flight in 1903.

I wonder if future historians will credit Max with pushing the boundaries by making nitpicky, "smartass" comments on Thai Visa forums?

I wish them nothing but success. I love explorers. They have bigger balls than I ever did.