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S U B S C R I B E
History made: Solar plane makes it through night
It’s a momentous achievement—Solar Impulse has made it through its first night flight, running entirely on batteries charged with solar power during the day. It’s the first time a manned plane has done this. WRS’s Conor Lennon spoke to our reporter Tony Ganzer, who has been watching the plane’s progress since it took off on Wednesday morning and we catch the plane’s pilot, André Borschberg, who spoke to us from inside the aircraft in the early hours of this morning.
LIVE FROM MISSION CONTROLWRS’s Tony Ganzer updates us on the plane’s progress at 7 a.m.
Mission director Claude Nicollier shortly before the solar flight is expected to land at 8.30 a.m.
Mrs. Borschberg on how it feels to watch her husband fly the first manned solar-powered plane through the night
The cockpit of Solar Impulse is a tight space, about the size of an economy-class seat in a commercial airliner. The electric turbine engines provide a slight but steady hum, and act as the only constant sound for pilot André Borschberg. He says the solitude of the cockpit is an experience in itself.
Borschberg: It is an incredible moment to be in this cockpit all alone, watching the stars in the sky and the lights down there…thinking about flying through the night and seeing the sunrise, I think this will be incredible.
Borschberg sat focused and cramped in the cockpit day and night. His water froze in high altitudes and he had an unquenchable thirst for 10 hours. Solar Impulse project head and Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard says part of the challenge for Solar Impulse is testing the limits of the human body, while overcoming self-imposed limitations.
Piccard: Limitations are wrong limits…self inflicted because you believe you cannot do better…but that is wrong, many times you can go much further
Piccard, with partner Brian Jones, was the first person to circle the Earth non-stop in a hot air balloon. He says during his journey around the world, nightfall brought the greatest challenge—darkness and solitude. For that reason Borschberg has maintained a special diet, has practiced yoga, and studied meditation to help cope in the air. And with that self control, Piccard says a person can concentrate on the task at hand.
Piccard: To accomplish something big, you need to cope with failure. If you cope with the possibility of failure, you will have success. Success comes one time more than failure.
A faulty transmitter forced Solar Impulse to postpone its try at a night flight last week and with good weather this morning, and a plane still brimming with stored solar energy, the crew is cautiously expecting success. Tony Ganzer, World Radio Switzerland, Payerne Airfield
Comments
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I have been following your story since I found out about it. How wonderful that all of you have the courage and determination to make this work. Solar power is beginning to be used in so many different and innovative ways - the new ideas of how solar can become the energy of the future sounds like science fiction!! My prayers have been with you all for a truely successful journey and a bright future.
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