Solar Impulse on next flight challenges

The Swiss Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) has found a flight window for its trip from Hawaii to California, with plans to depart on Thursday.  This time it will be project initiator and pilot Bertrand Piccard in the cockpit, after his colleague André Borschberg did the Japan-to-Hawaii segment last July – a record-breaking solar-powered flight of nearly five days and nights. swissinfo.ch asked the Solar Impulse team what they feel are the biggest challenges of the ninth leg of Si2’s round-the-world flight, which will take the plane from Kalaeloa Airport to Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, near San Francisco. swissinfo.ch: How does this leg differ from the previous one? Alexandra Gindroz, Solar Impulse spokeswoman: The flight time of the second part of the Pacific crossing will be around four days and four nights in total. In its nature, the second part of the Pacific crossing will bring the same challenges as the first part concerning physical and technical ...