Weather traps fragile solar plane in China

BEIJING — The pilots and team prepping the Solar Impulse plane to fly around the world don’t appear to be impulsive about leaving China.

They’ve been here since March 29, stymied by unfavorable weather conditions, which have delayed the solar-powered plane’s next and most dangerous leg — a five-day, 5,070-mile journey to Hawaii.

“The mission team … is working really hard to find a window allowing us to depart for the Pacific Ocean,” pilot and Solar Impulse co-leader Bertrand Piccard said Wednesday on Twitter.

When that window will open up is unclear. They’d originally hoped to depart as early as May 5.

Piccard and fellow Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg are taking turns attempting to become the first to fly a solar-powered plane around the world. The one-seater Solar Impulse plane, the product of a decade of work, is completely powered by the rays of the sun and whatever tailwinds it may encounter.

The odd-looking plane, which weighs about as much as a minivan, gets its energy from 17,000 solar cells on its 236-foot-wide wings, which are wider than those on a Boeing 747. The pilots say they are attempting the circumnavigation to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy and ever-changing technological advances.

After starting in Abu Dhabi on March 8, Piccard landed the plane in the southern China city of Chongqing on March 29, the fifth leg of its journey. Piccard and his support team hoped to be there for only a few days, but bad weather delayed the flight to Nanjing, China, until April 20.

The next leg was the longest, more than 5,000 miles across the ocean to Hawaii. So far, the weather has not cooperated.

Conditions have to be just right for Borschberg to attempt the five-day, five-night leg. If the sky is overcast during the morning, it can prevent the plane from recharging its batteries after a nighttime flight. Thunderstorms or heavy crosswinds would force Borschberg to change course, adding to the duration and risk of the flight.

Elke Neumann, media relations officer for Solar Impulse, said the Nanjing takeoff has been delayed for a variety of weather reasons, including two typhoons near the Philippines and concerns about crosswinds.

As of Friday, the plane’s mission control team in Monaco had not identified a possible date when weather forecasts were favorable.

On Friday, the 62-year-old Borschberg was in Japan making arrangements. “Currently in Tokyo to fine tune solarimpulse strategy to fly over Japanese airspace as soon as weather permits,” he tweeted in the afternoon.

In an interview in Nanjing late last month, Borschberg conceded that it could take some time to find a five-day window in which he could safely fly to Hawaii, a solar-powered Pacific crossing that has never been attempted before.

“You have to respect the forces of nature,” he said. “This is a plane that flies with nature, so you need to have nature on your side.”

Piccard and Borschberg originally had hoped to complete their tag-team, around-the-world flight in five months, returning to Abu Dhabi in August. Because of weather delays in China, that date almost surely will be set back – particularly because they still must cross the Atlantic, where the hurricane season begins June 1.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.