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| Andre Borschberg |
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| A full wing width view of SolarImpulse.This is the second engine on the left wing |
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| The temporary hanger for the SolarImpulse airplane. |
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| Bertrand Piccard |
The fact that the experimental aircraft, powered by solar cells on its wings and tail, has flown from San Francisco (Moffet Field,Mountain View,California) to Phoenix and then set a long distance record for a solar-powered aircraft by flying from Phoenix to Dallas is amazing of and within itself.
Even more amazing is that the technology developed and displayed by this amazing flying machine isn't totally about an airplane. It's about the multi-uses the technology makes available from houses to all kinds of energy-efficient sources to power motors,drives,machines and things that have not even been conceived.
It takes visionaries to lead the way and pioneers to carry out those visions.Two such men that I only knew by what I had read about until Friday jelled when I stood only a couple of feet from Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Piccard had piloted the craft from Moffett to Sky Harbor,Phoenix and Andre Borschberg had set the new long-distance record by flying the longest leg of over 800 miles from Sky Harbor to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport early Thursday morning.
They were not the first-two pioneers that I have know. In 1976, Karl Thomas was unsuccessful in piloting a hot air balloon from Maine to Europe, dropping into the North Atlantic and being picked up by a Russian trawler a few days later. Karl was not only a visionary and pioneer, he was ex centric and fully brilliant.
So, to stand in the presence of two great men with visions and pioneering spirit was once again an amazing moment. Good Luck to the entire project of Solarimpulse and the staff that makes the machine as an organization work.
Even more amazing is that the technology developed and displayed by this amazing flying machine isn't totally about an airplane. It's about the multi-uses the technology makes available from houses to all kinds of energy-efficient sources to power motors,drives,machines and things that have not even been conceived.
It takes visionaries to lead the way and pioneers to carry out those visions.Two such men that I only knew by what I had read about until Friday jelled when I stood only a couple of feet from Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Piccard had piloted the craft from Moffett to Sky Harbor,Phoenix and Andre Borschberg had set the new long-distance record by flying the longest leg of over 800 miles from Sky Harbor to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport early Thursday morning.
They were not the first-two pioneers that I have know. In 1976, Karl Thomas was unsuccessful in piloting a hot air balloon from Maine to Europe, dropping into the North Atlantic and being picked up by a Russian trawler a few days later. Karl was not only a visionary and pioneer, he was ex centric and fully brilliant.
So, to stand in the presence of two great men with visions and pioneering spirit was once again an amazing moment. Good Luck to the entire project of Solarimpulse and the staff that makes the machine as an organization work.
