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| May 25, 2012 | Solar-powered plane takes last rehearsal flight over Mediterranean | | London: A solar-powered plane takes off for its last rehearsal
before a round-the-world attempt in 2014. The Solar Impulse took off on the world’s
first cross-Mediterranean flight from an airfield in western Switzerland and is
scheduled to make a stopover in Spain after a 20-hour flight, before finally flying
to the Moroccan capital Rabat on Monday. This last rehearsal flight will help
prepare the pilots for an attempt at a round-the-world journey. “Today it’s the
last rehearsal for the flight around the world in 2014. For Andre and myself as
pilots and for the entire team, the mission control team and technical team,”
the Telegraph quoted Solar Impulse founder, Bertrand Piccard, as telling a news
agency. Pilot Andre Borschberg, who was flying the aircraft to Madrid , found
it “rewarding” that the plane flies only using solar power. “Well the most fun
is to be able to go up to 9,000 metres with solar energy, and the more I will
fly during the day, the more energy I will collect even in the batteries, so that's
very impressing, very different. “That’s extremely rewarding that we’re able to
go to Madrid and generate energy at the same time, so that's a big big gift,”
Borschberg told reporters before take off. The Solar Impulse project began in
2003 with a 10-year budget of 90 million euros and has involved engineers from
Swiss lift maker Schindler and research aid from Belgian chemicals group Solvay.
The plane, which requires 12,000 solar cells, embarked on its first flight in
April 2010 and completed a 26-hour flight three months later, setting a record
flying time for a solar powered aircraft. In 2011, the plane and its crew completed
the world’s first international flights with a solar-powered airplane as they
landed at Brussels and Paris airports. With an average flying speed of 70 kmph
(44 mph), Solar Impulse is not an immediate threat to commercial jets, which can
easily cruise at more than 10 times that speed.
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