The Solar Impulse 2 trip around the world

[Homo Aeroportus]

Second attempt for the Pacific crossing today !

E-mail from SI RTW :
A possible window for a takeoff from Nagoya on June 23st, at 17:30 UTC, has been identified. We strongly hope that the flight will be confirmed at the 12:00 UTC briefing by the Monaco Mission Control Center


Check live on http://www.solarimpulse.com

H.A.

[sn26567]

Take-off foreseen in less than four hours now. Fingers crossed!

[Homo Aeroportus]

Flight has just been cancelled.
The latest review of the Wx forecast showed too high a risk for SI2 later in the week. Remember this is a flight that spans 5-6 days.
Apparently the problem was a layer of high clouds in the morning of day 4 that would have deprived SI2 from the necessary solar power at the end of the night.

André Borschberg was already in the cockpit but, as Bertrand Piccard said, it is better for André to get out of the aircraft while on the runway in Nagoya rather having to bail out somewhere over the Pacific in 3 days !

Best of luck for the next attempt.

H.A.

[sn26567]

André Borschberg was already in the cockpit.

Not only was André Borschberg in the cockpit, but the plane was at the threshold of Rwy 34 in Komaki Airport, Nagoya!

This shows again the limitations of such an aeroplane: it needs nice weather all over the trip AND favourable winds.

No doubt that the technology will evolve to make such aircraft more capable to fly under all kinds of circumstances. After all, the Wright brothers would not have attempted their first flight if it had been raining or with a side wind...

Let's wait now for a new window, hopefully in the near future. Else, the team could get bored in Nagoya.

[sn26567]

Some unconfirmed sources tell that the Solar Impulse 2 has taken off from Nagoya and is flying to Japan.

Hard to believe: no trace on FR24 ("SOLAR2"), and the Solar Impulse app, as well as their Twitter account keep quiet!

Bertrand Piccard had mentioned earlier that take off should in any case happen before 5 August. Later, the days would become to short to provide enough energy.

[sn26567]

Some unconfirmed sources tell that the Solar Impulse 2 has taken off from Nagoya and is flying to Japan.

Hard to believe: no trace on FR24 ("SOLAR2"), and the Solar Impulse app, as well as their Twitter account keep quiet!

But the source was right. Solar Impulse 2 is actually flying to Hawaii. The team has taken the lesson from the previous attempts and didn't want to show too much optimism before it was sure that the flight would be completed, hence it didn't communicate at all. Even the transpounder had been disconnected, so that FR24 couldn't show the flight!

Here is their latest news release:

Ocean Crossing To Hawaii : The third Attempt.

#LIVE at 4:00 UTC. This is the update you have all been waiting for!

A possible window for a flight to Hawaii on June 28th, was identified. Si2 took off at 18:03 UTC from Nagoya and preferred waiting the point of no return before communicating about it.

Solar Impulse tries once again to make a historical oceanic flight that will last at least 5 days and 5 nights non-stop. Endeavoring to reach Hawaii from Japan to encourage the use of clean technologies, the solar powered aircraft of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg attempt the longest exploration leg of the Solar Impulse’s Round-The-World mission.

Flying across oceans without fuel means taking renewable energy to the ultimate level. Cast your vote on futureisclean.org if you believe as strongly as we do in clean technologies’ crucial role in the energetic transition.

[sn26567]

André Borschberg is almost 15 hours into his epic flight above the Pacific ocean! He is flying with a ground speed of about 80 knots at 29,431 feet, the maximum altitude, and has fully loaded the batteries! The night will soon fall...





Said Bertrand Piccard: "The point of no return for this flight to Hawaii was also the point of no return for the entire project". It was about time to take off!

[sn26567]

After 17 hours, still on schedule in the Pacific night (although the speed has now dropped to a low 20 knots and the altitude to 8,800 ft).

[sn26567]

Last night the Solar Impulse pushed the technology to its extreme: the batteries went as low as 10% (I start panicking when my phone is down to 30%...).

The flight to Hawaii is still on schedule, but there is something bizarre happening right now (37% into the 8th leg, in the middle of the night): Si2 is doing a holding before crossing the cold front.

[sn26567]

As the sun rises for the third time on flight 8, Si2 is now flying since more than 44 hrs 10 min, beating the record established between Nanjing and Nagoya.

It is again flying in a holding pattern before a cold front, apparently flying backwards sometimes, but it has almost done 50% of the distance to Hawaii.

[sn26567]

Si2 crossed the first cold front, which for weeks acted as a wall for the aircraft ; thus a major hurdle was overcome.

At 08:52 UTC time the Solar Impulse 2 crossed the international date line and July 2 became July 1 again.

It has now logged 61% of the distance from Nagoya to Honolulu. The third night has fallen and the plane is quietly descending from FL300 to FL80 on its batteries.

[sn26567]

Si2 approaching Midway, the first possible alternate if a failure appears. Always get prepared for the worst...

[luchtzak]

Thanks for the interesting updates André !

[Apuneger]

2/3 of the trip Nagoya-Hawaii already done... This is getting more exciting by the minute. Congrats to André Borschberg and let's cross our fingers and hope he makes it to the US.

Best regards,
Ivan

[sn26567]

After 86 hours of flight, Si2 is not too far from Hawaii now, but the 4th night will be long: more than 9 hours until the sun powers the batteries again. The upcoming night will be the most critical, Andre Borschberg will have to cut systems to maximise energy savings!

The positive news: Si2 passed the non-return point to Midway and is definitely proceeding to Hawaii!



Earlier, Andre Borschberg just broke Steve Fossett's 2006 record of the longest solo endurance flight: 76h45min!

[Homo Aeroportus]

.... the batteries went as low as 10% (I start panicking when my phone is down to 30%...)....

Hang on to your hat André, the current night over there is indeed critical.
At 02:10 local, 1210 UTC, the batteries state of charge is 62% but still almost 6 hours to go before sunrise. Then you need another hour or two before having enough solar energy to start recharge the batteries.

Discussion at MCC about the lowest SOC gives 5.5% !

They also plan to trade some altitude and further descend during one hour to save on batteries.

At sunrise, SI2 should be vertical of PHHF, French Frigate Shoals "Airport", a 900-m airstrip. Not at all an alternate for Hawaii, especially without any ground crew, but better than Joe the Shark !


There is a live update announced at 1230 UTC, 14:30 Brussels time.

H.A.

[sn26567]

There is a live update announced at 1230 UTC, 14:30 Brussels time.

580 NM to Hawaii. But to compound the difficulty, there is a new cold front. Andre Borschberg will attempt to cross the front at 03:00 UTC. Cirrus coverage is 8/8.

Pilot is really tired, state of charge is following predictions (not influenced by the cold front, at least during the night ). However, batteries are losing performance because their temperature is increasing. MCC engineers are working hard on this.

[sn26567]

At sunrise, SI2 should be vertical of PHHF, French Frigate Shoals "Airport", a 900-m airstrip. Not at all an alternate for Hawaii, especially without any ground crew, but better than Joe the Shark !

Here is PHHF:


Si2 is currently flying over French Frigate. First possible ETA is in 28 hours, 16:00 UTC, July 3rd.

Says André Borschberg: "I'm fighting, it's difficult... Managing energy level is not easy. I have to find a hole in the cold front.

[sn26567]

Four days (96hrs) in the air. Sun is rising. Si2 survived the night and didn't fall short of electricity. Batteries are charging again.

It will soon be crossing the cold front above the Pacific. 7,000Km down, 1,000Km to go! Hawaii tomorrow?

[KriVa]

That would be awesome!