Posted on 05/30/2015 7:35:48 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
The experimental aircraft, which has a wingspan bigger than a jumbo but weighs little more than a large car, left Nanjing at 02:39 (18:39 GMT).
It is likely to take Mr Borschberg five to six days of continuous flight to reach his central Pacific destination.
He will try to stay awake for much of that time, taking only short catnaps.
His progress will be monitored the entire way from a control room in Monaco.
Meteorologists and flight strategists will constantly update him on the best route to follow.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
You can follow the flight live here:
http://www.solarimpulse.com/leg-7-from-Nanjing-to-Hawaii
Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SolarImpulseChannel
Twitter feed here:
https://twitter.com/solarimpulse
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/solarimpulse
More info about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse
Other news articles about the Pacific crossing.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/asia/solar-impulse-plane-pacific-crossing/
http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/30/solar-impulse-begins-cross-pacific-flight/
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/05/30/solar-impulse-2-takes-off-on-epic-five-day-pacific-flight/
You can also follow them on Google+:
https://plus.google.com/+solarimpulse/posts
[He will try to stay awake for much of that time, taking only short catnaps.]
Well, it worked for Kramer.
Kinda.
I guess its interesting, but I wish they wouldn’t pimp the upcoming global warming conference. This is a stunt, not a new way to fly across the pacific. They estimate it takes 60 hours to get to Hawaii, which is about the same as taking a ship. There is a better buffet on a ship than in their one man airplane.
Maybe if he just had an intern...
I found it on Flightradar24. Over the ocean just south of South Korea coast. identifier. NKG-? speed 64 alt. 16.030 ft.
8:38 PM. PDT. 30 May
Now, let’s see: if you built one with a wing span of about a mile and a half you could compete with existing commercial airliners. It’s sure to have success in the marketplace.
Oh my gawd. He’s dead...
Famous last words: “Hold my beer and watch this!”
It’ll drop to ~4k altitude overnight
The way I understand it, they do that so the pilot doesn’t have to keep an oxygen mask on all the time.
At current, he’s passing over the southern end of the Korean Peninsula at around 23,000 feet.
That makes sense, I’d assumed that it was because the batteries couldn’t maintain full airspeed overnight.
local time was 7:30 AM so they may climb now. Don’t know what the design alt. is but it is fun to watch the cockpit at the live site.
Ground speed was 64 knots, so it will be a long way to Hawaii.
I’ve flown over the Atlantic a few times and 9 hors from the West coast seems like a long time. Pilot probably can’t walk around much.
When Rutan and friend flew non-stop aruond the world, that mst have
been a real endurance test.
Currently 27,000 ft. 12 mph
11 PM. PDT 5/30
Somebody’s going into the river!
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