Solar Impulse 2 takes off from San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO: The Solar Impulse 2, an experimental aircraft flying around the world to draw attention to clean energy technologies, took off on Monday from near San Francisco en route to the southwest city of Phoenix.

Pilot Andre Borschberg took to the air just after 5am (1200GMT). The plane had been in California for a week since crossing the Pacific to land in Mountain View.

Borschberg, who has been alternating the long solo flights with his teammate, Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, will pilot Solar Impulse across the United States and to New York. Piccard piloted the craft from Hawaii to California.

“The sun is rising in the horizon. It feels good to be flying round-the-world with #Si2 again,” Borschberg posted on Twitter.

The 63-year-old adventurer took off at the early hour to take advantage of a clear weather window as he flies to Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Arizona, which should take about 16 hours and 20 minutes. The plane is crossing some 1,160km over the Mojave Desert.

The takeoff from Moffett Airfield southeast of San Francisco marked the beginning of the 10th of 13 legs in a journey that began last year in the UAE.

The mission aims to promote the use of renewable energy, with an aircraft powered by 17,000 solar cells.

The plane’s wingspan is wider than that of a jumbo jet but its weight is roughly the same as a family car.

Solar Impulse 2 was grounded in July last year when its batteries suffered problems halfway through its 35,000km circumnavigation.

The crew took several months to repair damage from tropical high temperatures during the first Pacific stage, a 4,000-mile flight between Japan and Hawaii.

The aircraft was flown on that leg by Borschberg, whose 118-hour journey smashed the previous record of 76 hours and 45 minutes set by US adventurer Steve Fossett in 2006.