Piccard took off from New York at 2:30 a.m. local time on a flight that is expected to take four days and four nights non-stop. His colleague André Borschberg already proved that Solar Impulse 2 can fly for such a length on his record-breaking flight of five days and five nights over the Pacific Ocean.
“With Solar Impulse, our aim is to encourage the deployment of clean technologies everywhere. If an airplane can fly day and night without fuel, everybody could use these same efficient solutions in their daily lives,” said Piccard, honorary president of the business association swisscleantech (the other honourary president is Nick Beglinger, co-founder and CEO of Cleantech21).
Transatlantic flights have been used since the days of Charles Lindbergh to demonstrate the abilities of aviation. “Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight marked a new era in aviation and contributed to the progress of air transport on a large scale,” said Piccard, who initiated the Solar Impulse project.
“With this flight over the Atlantic, we are further demonstrating Bertrand’s vision that clean technologies work and can be applied everywhere,” added Borschberg.
After landing in Europe, Solar Impulse 2 will set its sights on Abu Dhabi, where it began its round-the-world adventure in March 2015. The record-breaking journey took longer than expected after the airplane was grounded in Hawaii for the winter due to battery problems.