Solar Impulse, the Solar Airplane Making History in St. Louis

Solar Impulse, the Solar Airplane Landed at Lambert-St. Louis International on Tuesday June 4th at 1:28 CDT (UTC-5)

Solar Impulse, the solar airplane arrived safely in St. Louis a little after 1:00 AM CDT, (UTC-5). It was an outstanding flight. I hope you were able to watch some of it on our live feed. Half-way through the flight, which was 21 hours and 21 minutes long, Elâ Borschberg sent an email asking for us to send in a joke or words of encouragement for Bertrand. He was 10 hours into the flight at that time.

Thousands of supporters responded. He was flooded with jokes to make him smile and inspiring notes to lift his spirits. He reported back that when he departed Dallas-Fort Worth, there was one man in the cockpit, however after receiving so many nice messages, he felt like he was flying with many people. Read more to learn what the Solar Impulse team said about the flight.

Across America, 3rd leg Dallas Fort Worth to Lambert St. Louis | André Borschberg waves goodbye to Bertrand Piccard just moments after take-off | © Solar Impulse | Revillard | Rezo.ch | The Solar Airplane

Bertrand landed at Lambert-St. Louis International airport at 01:28 AM CDT (UTC-5), Tuesday June 4th, completing his longest ever flight (21 hours 21 minutes) in the solar airplane.

St. Louis was chosen as the destination for the third leg of this Across America mission for historic and symbolic reasons. St. Louis is best known for the “Spirit of St. Louis” who, piloted by Charles Lindbergh in 1927 completed the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris. This flight was made possible by St. Louis businessmen including the namesake of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, Albert Bond Lambert.

Across America, 3rd leg Dallas Fort Worth to Lambert St. Louis | Solar Impulse’s pilot Bertrand Piccard prepares for the flight and says farewell to pilot on the ground André Borschberg | © Solar Impulse | Revillard | Rezo.ch 

During today’s flight, there were a couple of memorable calls from the ground to the cockpit. This first one was from Erik Lindbergh, Charles’ grandson. They had a chance to discuss the importance of exploration and of inspiring younger generations to take a chance and become pioneers of and for the future. They also got to exchange thoughts on the future of aviation while they spoke about meeting again in Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum under Erik’s grandfather’s “Spirit of St. Louis” and Bertrand’s “Breitling Orbiter”.

The other call was from Alan Nichols, President of the Explorer’s Club. He said he wished he could be up there, with Bertrand. At every stopover, chapters of the Explorer’s Club organized visits to see the solar airplane and they will hold a reception for Solar Impulse in New York City. Flag n°50 of the Club is travelling with André and Bertrand Across America – The same flag traveled to Morocco onboard HB-SIA during the 2012 Crossing Frontiers mission.

The best part of the flight, however, was the incredible response rate we got from Solar Impulse supporters who took to heart the call to “Keep the Pilot Awake”. A campaign launched by our Social Media and Community Engagement manager, Elâ Borschberg, over 600 people (and counting) responded with words of encouragement, via email, to the pilot and, more importantly, jokes to make him laugh.

We will be writing about the next leg of this incredible journey and including our live feed. The two remaining legs of the Across America mission are:

• Early to Mid-June 2013: Fourth leg St. Louis/Lambert Airport – Washington DC/Dulles
• Early July 2013: Fifth and last leg Washington DC/Dulles – New York/JFK

We will write about each and include our live feed of the Solar Airplane flying. Thanks for being a part of this historic endeavor.

By Amber Archangel

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