One hundred years ago, Africa was out of reach from Europe by airplane. This route was opened to commercial flights in 1919 by the legendary pilots of the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale such as Henry Lemaître, Pierre Georges Latécoère, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Jean Mermoz, when flying the first commercial airplanes between France and North Africa. After the first leg done by André Borschberg to Madrid, Bertrand Piccard will follow their path to undertake a new first in aviation history, as soon as the meteorological conditions will allow it: flying from Spain to Morocco and crossing the Gibraltar Strait in a solar-powered airplane.

“This is an opportunity to pay tribute to the pioneering spirit of these pilots and to highlight the humanist nature of the author of the Little Prince”, said Bertrand Piccard. Let’s mention in particular the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation working to assist the youth of today to become responsible citizens. In order to improve the state of the world, future generations need to be inspired to take action, an objective shared by both the Foundation and Solar Impulse.

The Foundation’s upcoming exposition “La terre en heritage” at the Air and Space Museum at Paris Le Bourget airport (9 June-9 September 2012) is designed to highlight Saint-Exupéry’s humanist and ecological approach in his manuscripts and illustrations. Given its close ties to Solar Impulse’s message and objectives, both André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard have accepted to give their patronage for this exposition.

Through a selection of spectacular images from NASA, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the French Space Agency CNES and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself as well as a children’s drawing contest, the Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation is engaging to raise awareness of the grave challenges facing the Earth today by targeting the youngest generations. 

After a flight lasting approximately 17 hours, the HB-SIA prototype has finally landed in Madrid-Barajas airport at 01:28:50AM. The pilot, André Borschberg, made his way out of the cockpit, smiley and certainly happy to stretch his legs.

“The flight went very well and thanks to the team of meteorologists, everything went according to the plan: it was extraordinary” Said André Borschberg “It was incredible to fly alongside the barrier of clouds during most of the flight and not need to hesitate to fly above them. This confirms our confidence in the capacity of solar energy even further.”

It was a long and demanding flight and thanks to the active engagement of the team in Payerne, Solar Impulse was able negotiate a slightly earlier landing slot. With some initial turbulence, it was becoming difficult to envisage the expected holding of over two hours around the airport. However, in the last hour or so, the winds settled clearing the way for the HB-SIA to land freely.

This, and future international landings, are a good way for the Solar Impulse team to practice coordination and cooperation with international airports for fine-tuning of logistics, maintenance and facing challenges of air traffic patterns. 

Flight Report:

Take-off time 08h24 UTC+2

Landing time 01h28min50s

Fight duration : 17h 3min 50s

Average ground speed : 89 km/h

Highest altitude reached : 8’500 m (27’000 feet)