Pilot André Borschberg was at the controls on Saturday’s flight, which took 16 hours and 34 minutes, writes Solar Impulse in a press release. Borschberg is the CEO and co-founder of Solar Impulse and one of its two pilots on this record-breaking round-the-world solar flight.
Borschberg lay down the foundations for the successful Solar Impulse missions back in 2003 when he carried out a feasibility study with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). In 2010 he broke history when he flew 26 hours in the airplane, demonstrating that it is possible to fly day and night with only solar energy to power the airplane.
On Saturday’s flight, Borschberg reached a maximum altitude of 6,401 metres and an average speed of 67.2 kilometres per hour, covering a total flight distance of 1,113 kilometres.
The US crossing of the round-the-world flight will end in New York. Bertrand Piccard, initiator and chairman of Solar Impulse, will pilot the next leg as soon as possible, weather permitting. Piccard brought together the partner companies and academic institutions to fund the Swiss project. As honourary president of the business association swisscleantech (the other honourary president is Nick Beglinger, CEO of Cleantech21), his focus is on demonstrating what clean technologies can achieve.