Solar Impulse 2 begins longest leg of round-the-world flight - Action News
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Solar Impulse 2 begins longest leg of round-the-world flight

The Swiss pilot of a solar plane has embarked on the longest leg of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.

Solar Impulse 2's China-Hawaii flight expected to take at least 130 hours

RAW: Solar plane takes off for round-the-world flight

9 years ago
Duration 1:01
Solar Impulse 2 departs from China in the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel

The Swiss pilot of a solar plane has embarked on the longest leg of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.

Andr Borschberg took off from Nanjing, China, at 2:39 a.m. Sunday in the Solar Impulse 2 for a flight across the Pacific Ocean expected to last six days and five nights, or at least 130 hours.

The journey started in March in Abu Dhabi, and the solar plane has made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar and China. The 8,175-kilometer flight to Hawaiifrom Nanjing is the seventh of 12 legs, and the longest and most dangerous.

Borschberg and another Swiss pilot, Bertrand Piccard, have been taking turns flying the single-seater Swiss plane during a five-month journey to promote renewable energy use.

"This is the moment of truth," Borschberg, 62, said before takeoff.

He said that if successful, the flight to Hawaii will demonstrate the credibility of the vision he and Piccard embraced 16 years ago "to change our mindset regarding the enormous potential of clean technologies and renewable energies."

After Hawaii, the plan is for Piccard to pilot the aircraft on to Phoenix, Ariz.

Ground crew members move the Solar Impulse 2 after it landed in Chongqing, China on Tuesday after a 20-hour, 1,375-kilometre flight from Mandalay, Burma, on the fifth leg of the solar-powered plane's bid to circumnavigate the globe. (The Associated Press)