Solar Impulse hopes to make delayed Pacific crossing tonight

A solar-powered plane that has been trapped in Japan for three weeks by the rainy season is set to take off for Hawaii on Tuesday night, the team behind the project has said.

TOKYO // A solar-powered plane that has been trapped in Japan for three weeks by the rainy season is set to take off for Hawaii on Tuesday night.

Solar Impulse 2 was trying to fly from Nanjing, China to Hawaii, when a developing weather front forced it to divert to the central Japanese city of Nagoya at the start of the month.

Ever since, the crew has been scouring long-range forecasts for an opportunity to restart the first ever round-the-world attempt by an aircraft powered only by the sun.

A chance to do so presented itself on Tuesday.

“Solar Impulse will attempt to fly to Hawaii on Wednesday, June 24 at 2.30am local time (21.30 UAE time, Tuesday)” the team said.

Mission co-founder Andre Borschberg, who flew for 44 hours to get to Nagoya, will climb back into the cockpit in the middle of Japan’s night for a daring bid to reach Hawaii after five days and five nights of continuous flight.

Winds and turbulence tend to be calmer in the very early hours of the morning, Solar Impulse team spokeswoman Elke Neumann told AFP, making this time ideal for take-offs.

“The batteries are full so the plane can fly anytime,” she said. “Since the sun goes up very early in Japan, we are flying early ... we fly much earlier, so we have much more time in the air.”

Solar Impulse set off from Abu Dhabi earlier this year in a multi-leg attempt to get all the way around the world without a single drop of fuel.

*AFP