Solar plane on global trip headed to Oklahoma from Arizona
Source: Associated Press, via Worcester Telegram
Solar plane on global trip headed to Oklahoma from Arizona
By The Associated Press
Posted May. 12, 2016 at 6:08 AM
Updated at 8:14 AM
GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) " A solar-powered airplane that landed in Arizona last week after a daylong flight from California is headed to Oklahoma next on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.
Project officials said Wednesday that the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 is scheduled to take off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 3 a.m. PDT Thursday with a destination of Tulsa International Airport.
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The Solar Impulse 2'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. ... It began its globe-circling trip last year and flew from Hawaii to Mountain View last month.
After Oklahoma, the plane is expected to make one more stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa, according to the website documenting the journey.
Read more: http://www.telegram.com/news/20160512/solar-plane-on-global-trip-headed-to-oklahoma-from-arizona
By Susan Misicka
Environment
in depth: Solar Impulse
May 12, 2016 - 12:11
Solar Impulse took off on Thursday for an 18 hour flight from Phoenix, Arizona to Tulsa, Oklahoma
(Solar Impulse | Stefatou| Rezo.ch)
Adventurers are expected to take risks, but not at the expense of others. That’s why Switzerland’s Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) has to keep a close eye on Swiss solar plane Si2 as it pursues its attempt at a round-the-world flying record.
On Thursday morning Solar Impulse, piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, took off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport for Tulsa International Airport in Oklahoma in the United States on the latest leg of its globetrotting journey.
Hamid Hampai, the FOCA certification manager for the Solar Impulse project, talks to swissinfo.ch about the novelty of tracking a solar plane, and how he expects more such planes to be flying in the future.
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Have you got any other unusual projects on the horizon?
HH: There are several projects, like one where the plan is to fly to the stratosphere in an electric plane. It’s called SolarStratus. It would be a Swiss first.
