Early Morning Departure for Solar Impulse, the Solar Plane

Breaking News from the Solar Impulse team: Solar Impulse, piloted by André Borschberg, will take off tomorrow, Wednesday May 22nd at 4:45AM MST (UTC-7) from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and fly to Texas. Landing is scheduled sometime after 01:00AM CDT (UTC-5) at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Thursday May 23rd. Should there be any last minute changes, please consult our Dallas page on the Solar Impulse website.

Solar Impulse will be soaring in the early morning skies of Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday May 22, on the second leg of the team’s Across America Mission. We can watch the pre-flight preparations; the entire flight and the landing live, via live Solar Impulse TV on their website.

This is record-breaking flying. André is attempting to break his own solar aviation achievement when he flew from Payerne, Switzerland to Madrid, Spain. By Amber Archangel. All the details are shown below.

AcrossAmerica | 6th Test Flight from Moffett Field | Solar Impulse flies around the San Francisco Bay area | 2013.04.23 |Credit: © Solar Impulse | Revillard | Rezo.ch

During this flight, André will attempt to break the world distance record in the solar aviation category, a record he previously set in 2012 by flying from Payerne (Switzerland) to Madrid (Spain). The total distance is estimated at 868 miles (1396.8 km).

The flight from Arizona to Texas via New Mexico will provide André with some spectacular desert landscapes as he flies over Roswell (NM), where Felix Baumgartner completed the famous Red Bull Stratos jump from the stratosphere, towards Hobbs (NM) and then, on his approach to Dallas, above Abilene (TX). The third leg of the Across America mission, connecting Dallas to St. Louis, will be flown by Bertrand.

Spaces are available to see the airplane take off from Phoenix Sky Harbor tomorrow. Sign up here today if you want to see the solar airplane lift itself off the ground. Spaces are available on a first-come first-serve basis, so hurry up! If you would like to see the plane in flight, go to the butte on Arizona State University’s campus (in front of the Packard Drive bus stop at 6th street and Rio Salado Pkwy) – the plane will be visible with the naked eye.

Don’t forget that Solar Impulse always films the entire mission flights live. Just go directly to Solar Impulse TV and see the pilots (one from the cockpit and the other from the ground), see interviews with the people that make it happen, and watch footage from past events and flights. Also on the live page, and during all flights, there’s a moving map and virtual cockpit allowing you to feel what it’s like to be in the plane.

During the Dallas stopover, the Solar Impulse team will organize an Open House on Friday, May 24th from 1PM to 7PM. Sign up here if you want to see the plane with your own eyes! Changes might occur, so if you live in the Dallas area, stay tuned via our homepage or sign up to become a Supporter and get priority information about flights, events and more!

As part of Solar Impulse’s Clean Generation initiative, meant to inspire politicians, businesspeople, and others to invest in clean technologies, the first flag displaying the initiative’s slogan and the destination city’s name (Phoenix) was handed to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer as a token of appreciation for her State’s hospitality. A new custom-designed flag will be carried in the cockpit from Phoenix to Dallas together with a USB key. The key virtually carries the names of Solar Impulse supporters across the United States. If you would like your friends or family to be part of this pioneering adventure and cross the country with us, tell them to sign up today and become a friend of the project.

PS.  You can also follow André, Bertrand or Solar Impulse directly on their Twitter pages.

It is inspiring to follow this airplane’s journey. I will be watching the pre-flight, the flight and the landing. It makes a long day for me. It must be incredible for the pilots and the Solar Impulse team as they change aviation history with these flights.

If you sign up as a supporter (it’s FREE) your name is carried with the pilots on each flight. –Amber Archangel

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