Pilot Bertrand Piccard took off from Moffett Airfield at NASAs Ames Research Center (CA) at 06:12 AM PDT (UTC-7) and, after a 18 hours and 18 minutes flight from southern California, over the Mojave National Preserve and into Arizona, he landed the HB-SIA prototype at 00:30 AM MST (UTC-7) at Phoenixs Sky Harbor International Airport. This is the first of five legs that will lead the projects co-founders, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, to alternately fly the solar airplane coast-to-coast from California to New York.
By crossing the United States André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard are launching the Clean Generation initiative a global awareness-raising movement advocating for greater investment in innovative technologies for sustainable energy production and use. Thousands of Supporters worldwide have joined the movement and their names will be virtually brought by the pilots across America by means of a USB key and with every stopover more will be added. All those interested in being part of this movement of influencers can sign up here.
Weve been dreaming about crossing the United States for years – the land of scientific research, innovation and aviation pioneers and its hard to believe its really happening. said André Borschberg (Co-Founder, CEO and pilot of Solar Impulse) and Bertrand Piccard (Initiator, Chairman and pilot of Solar Impulse) as they walked down the runway. We are thrilled to have safely and successfully completed this first leg and we werent alone: thousands of names of our supporters virtually accompanied us. With them, we launched the Clean Generation initiative promoting clean technologies.
A number of events will be organized during the Phoenix stopover including visits open to the public on Sunday May 5th and Tuesday May 7th. Because the solar airplane will be in a secured airport zone, the spaces available will be limited in accordance with airport security rules. People have to register in advance for Sunday 5th May through
http://solarimpulseatphoenixonsunday.eventbrite.com/ and for Tuesday 7th May through http://solarimpulseatphoenixontuesday.eventbrite.com/.
FLIGHT REPORT: SAN FRANCISCO – PHOENIX
Pilot: Bertrand Piccard, Initiator and Chairman
Take-off time: May 3rd 2013 06:12 AM PDT (UTC-7)
Time of landing: May 4th 2013 00:30 AM MST (UTC-7)
Flight duration: 18h18 min
Average ground speed: 65,5 km/h (40,6 m/h)
Highest altitude reached: 6400 m (21000feet)
Average altitude: 3050 m (10000 feet)
Flight Distance: 1203 km (~650 NM)
THE ACROSS AMERICA MISSION AT A GLANCE:
May 3rd 2013: First leg San Francisco/Moffett Airfield Phoenix/Sky Harbor
Mid May 2013: Second leg Phoenix/Sky Harbor Dallas/Fort Worth
End May Early June 2013: Third leg Dallas/Fort Worth St. Louis/Lambert Airport
Mid June 2013: Fourth leg St. Louis/Lambert Airport Washington DC/Dulles
Early July 2013: Fifth and last leg Washington DC/Dulles New York/JFK
