The drone of the engines gets louder. In the cockpit test pilot Markus Scherdel gives the thumbs-up sign. Both the pilot and the plane are ready. The prototype slowly starts to move. The air is clear and the snow-covered Alps rise majestically beyond the runway. Scherdel accelerates until he reaches take-off speed. And then the moment the Solar Impulse team has been working towards for the last few months: HB-SIA lifts from the runway and flies a metre above the ground for a distance of about 350 metres. Now were ready for the next phase: the solar flight tests, announces André Borschberg. Keep tuned!
amazing
imagine what we’ll be able to accomplish with better batteries
Bravo M. Piccard.
Nice smooth take-off, where was the “hop”? I was expecting the nose wheel to thrust down suddenly.
Clearly this is wrong.
Fantastic!!!
Solar Impulse will fly around the world while performing multiple day and night cycles. It also will be steered by one or two pilots.
but we have already had a solar flight. Whats the significance?
Nice, but a flight test and no video of Christoph. :-(
Amazing – more than a flea hop for mankind! A great inspiration – thx to the team :-)
Awesome. As important as those first hops at Kittyhawk! Good one Deutch bank!
Holy Orvil ! It flys !!! Many Kudos to you.
pretty good considering it’s powered on a ‘winter sun’
Congratulations and good luck for future flights!!
Nice. Congratulations to everyone at solar impulse!!!