Home stretch for historic feat of aviation
Final leg a 48-hour flight from Egypt to Abu Dhabi
DUBAI // Solar Impulse 2 was on course to land in Abu Dhabi in the early hours of this morning, completing the final leg of its epic 16-month journey around the world using only power drawn from the Sun.
The plane, during its flight, has been edging ever closer to its final stop at Al Bateen Airport in the capital after taking off from Cairo on Saturday and making its way over the Arabian Gulf. It was scheduled to land at 4am.
The solar-powered aircraft has flown more than 40,000 kilometres in 510 hours of flight time, the equivalent of 22 days in the air. Since leaving Abu Dhabi in March last year it has crossed four continents, two oceans and three seas. Solar Impulse 2 is being piloted for the final stage of its journey by co-founder Bertrand Piccard, who initiated the idea of the global adventure 12 years ago.
“We have taken off on our last leg of the round-the-world solar flight, completing our mission upon touchdown in Abu Dhabi,” a statement on the Solar Impulse website said.
“After confronting new flight conditions, including high temperatures, upward and downward drafts and winds we have begun the 48-hour flight from Cairo, Egypt, to Abu Dhabi.” Project co- founder Andre Borschberg took the controls for the 16th and penultimate leg of the journey over the Mediterranean from Spain to Egypt. The 17th and final leg is expected to be just as difficult because of the intense heat of the Middle East summer.
On its journey the aircraft has travelled to Japan, and then across the Pacific Ocean and the United States.
The aircraft then traversed the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea before returning to Abu Dhabi. The Masdar- sponsored plane’s flights across the Pacific and Atlantic took five days each to complete, pushing the pilots to their physical limit as they flew Solar Impulse 2 solo.
For more on ENVIRONMENT, visit thenational/topics