Solar Impulse 2 finally left Nagoya this morning at 3:00 a.m. local time Japan for Hawaii, writes Solar Impulse in a news release. Lasting at least five days and five nights non-stop, Swiss pilot André Borschberg will attempt to cross the Pacific Ocean in what will be the longest and most difficult leg of the record-breaking journey to fly around the world without using a drop of fuel. Fuelled only by the power of the sun, the airplane was grounded in Japan since 2 June because of poor weather.
“We are now at the point in the Round-the-World Solar Flight where everything comes together, the engineers who worked on the airplane for the last 12 years, the Mission Control Center who will have to predict weather and guide the airplane through good conditions, and Bertrand who had this vision 16 years ago of an airplane flying for days without fuel to change our mindset regarding the potential of clean technologies and renewable energies" says co-founder and pilot Borschberg.
The Pacific crossing will be both physically and mentally challenging for the pilots. Borschberg will sleep for only 20 minutes at a time and use yoga and mediation to keep his body and mind functioning well, explains the news release.