Posted on 04/24/2016 8:52:25 PM PDT by Rabin
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. The two Swiss pilots, Berny Piccard and Andre Borschberg have been taking turns flying the plane around-the-world since March 2015. Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered airplane landed in Mountain View, Saturday night following a 62-hour, from Hawaii. The plane’s wings, stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747
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Raben
Very impressive! Ran batteries at night.
When they can go around the whole world in one whack —even if it’s a UAV, I’ll be super impressed..!
Very Impressive! Two passengers, 1 + years, loads of support staff, and only $100,000,000. I somehow don’t think our future is on this path, but kudos for the effort. It never hurts to push the edges of the envelope, but I don’t think the makers of jet fuel are shaking in their shoes yet.
62 hours between and Hawaii and here, with no heat or air conditioning. No inboard navigation system, sleeping 20 minutes at a time while in constant contact with the ground. I can see all kinds of practical uses for this, so I think the “human endurance” test was an overrated part of this achievement.
Yes. Hats off to them. Quite a feat, but let’s not forget the endurance record set by American pilots Robert Timm, and John W. Cook Sr. in Las Vegas beginning in 1958, and ending Feb. 7, 1959. They flew that Cessna non stop 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, and five seconds.
John W. Cook Sr. was like a stepfather to me. A great guy.
Here’s a link to one article on Robert Timm, and John Cook’s famous endurance flight.
http://www.nvahof.org/hof/hof-2010/timm-and-cook/
There are many more articles about the flight one can find by searching Robert Timm, and John Cook.
http://www.countyairports.org/History/History_LongestFlight.html
From the link:
Re-fueling and re-supplying the airplane were the tricky parts. Twice daily, the plane was flown just above a speeding truck from which a hose was hoisted up to pump 95 gallons of avgas into the belly tank. Food, water and Other supplies were lifted up from the truck as well.
The last previous trans Pac, 0 fule excursion was a re creation of much earlier engineering. Kon-Tiki 1947 across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named Kon-Tiki.
Thank you, and god bless them. Each and every one.
Raben
Why would they need to sleep no more than 20 minutes?
Not sure about that, actually. It’s what the article said, however. Bonus points for thinking:)
Yes. That’s what they did. They slowed the Cessna to the low 70’s mph, and there was a guy on a welded stand on the back of a pickup truck with a barrel of fuel he hand cranked. The hose was passed up to whomever wasn’t flying the plane at the time (either John, or Robert), and he would insert that into the fuel tank, and the crazy guy on the back of the pick up going 70+ miles per hour down the back road near Blythe, California would hand crank the pump to refuel the plane. Other supplies were sent up via a rope from a speeding T-Bird. Sandwiches, spare parts, etc. It must have been quite a thing to see. I met the Cooks a few months after they landed in 1959.
I followed this in real time online.
Drove the 6 miles to see the guy come in and land in Mt View.
It was an adventure.
Enjoyed it, very much, vicariously.
I have had adventures.
You do know what the definition of adventure is?
*hint* ‘Discomfort retold at leisure’.
It also says that, immediately after takeoff, they had flew low over a speeding car, from which a guy with a paint roller rolled white paint onto the plane’s tires. This was to serve as proof they didn’t land somewhere in the middle of the night for some R&R.
Yes. They went to extraordinary extent to ensure the record would not be tainted by anyone, or anything.
The spirit of exploration and pushing man and machine to its limits to see what is possible. Cook and Timm obviously had it - so do Piccard and Borschberg.
Would that we had more of these people than we do.
“Would that we had more of these people than we do.”
Yes.
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