MOUNTAIN
VIEW, Calif. (AP) — The two Swiss pilots taking turns to fly a
solar-powered airplane around the world said Sunday the endeavor is not
only a demonstration of the importance of renewable energy but also of
the many challenges the human body can endure.
Pilot
Bertrand Piccard completed a risky, three-day flight across a great
expanse of the Pacific Ocean while sleeping only 20 minutes at a time
inside the plane's tiny cockpit with no heat or air conditioning and
while having to keep constant contact with the Europe-based control
center.
"You
have interviews, navigation control, communications with the control
center in Monaco. You have health checks, a lot of health checks,"
Piccard said. "It's very active, there are a lot of things to do, but
you can nevertheless enjoy it."
Piccard
said he uses self-hypnosis to keep his energy up and puts heating pads
inside his shoes and gloves for warmth. He said he has no complaints
about the ready-made meals he can warm up with a special heat packet and
that can include risotto, chicken curry and potatoes.
On
Sunday, special guests, many of them with Google, which is sponsoring
the project, had a first look at the plane inside a huge white tent at
Moffett Airfield. The guests also mingled and took photos with Piccard
and fellow Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg.
Piccard
landed the Solar Impulse 2 in Mountain View, in the Silicon Valley
south of San Francisco, on Saturday night following a 62-hour, nonstop
solo flight from Hawaii without fuel.
The
landing came hours after Piccard made a fly-by over the Golden Gate
Bridge as spectators below watched the narrow aircraft with extra wide
wings.
Piccard
and Andre Borschberg have been taking turns flying the plane on an
around-the-world trip since taking off from Abu Dhabi, the capital of
the United Arab Emirates, in March 2015. It made stops in Oman, Myanmar,
China, Japan and Hawaii.
The trans-Pacific legs were the riskiest part of the plane's travels because of the lack of emergency landing sites.
"We
have demonstrated it is feasible to fly many days, many nights, that
the technology works" said Borschberg, 63, who piloted the plane a
five-day trip from Japan to Hawaii and who kept himself alert by doing
yoga poses and meditation.
The
project has helped to show that "as a human being you can be
sufficiently sustainable to be able to fly at least five days in such a
plane."
The aircraft faced a few bumps along the way.
The
Solar Impulse 2 landed in Hawaii in July and was forced to stay in the
islands after the plane's battery system sustained heat damage on its
trip from Japan. The team was delayed in Asia, too. When first
attempting to fly from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii, the crew had to divert
to Japan because of unfavorable weather and a damaged wing.
A month later, with better weather conditions, the plane left Nagoya in central Japan for Hawaii.
The
plane's ideal flight speed is about 28 mph, though that can double
during the day when the sun's rays are strongest. The carbon-fiber
aircraft weighs over 5,000 pounds, about as much as a midsize truck.
The
plane's wings, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are
equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge
batteries. The plane runs on stored energy at night.
Solar
Impulse 2 will make three more stops in the United States before
crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa, according to
the website documenting the journey.
Borschberg said the plane will again take flight this week, and the next stop could be Phoenix. But that will depend on weather.
The
project, which is estimated to cost more than $100 million, began in
2002 to highlight the importance of renewable energy and the spirit of
innovation.
"I
think innovation and pioneering must continue," Piccard said. "It must
continue for better quality of life, for clean technologies, for
renewable energy. This is where the pioneers can really express
themselves and be successful."
Solar-powered
air travel is not yet commercially practical, given the slow travel
time, weather and weight constraints of the aircraft.
"Maybe
it will be boring in 20 years when all the airplanes will be electric
and people will say 'Oh it's routine.' But now, today, an airplane that
is electric, with electric engines, that produces its own energy with
the sun, it can never be boring," Piccard said.
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