Solar Impulse pilot Andre Borschberg is back in the cockpit, this time for 72 hours straight to prepare for his around-the-world flight in 2014.
As Borschberg enters his second night of flying, it's worth noting that he hasn't actually gone anywhere. The Swiss pilot is sitting in a simulator while the Solar Impulse team runs a long list of tests designed to explore the ability of a pilot to make extended flights. The purpose of the sim is to determine how best to manage the pilot’s needs while circumnavigating the globe in a solar plane. It also will allow the team to evaluate and refine the cockpit design.
During that round-the-world flight, Borschberg will share flying duties with Solar Impulse co-founder Bertrand Piccard. They plan to take turns at the controls, climbing in altitude during the day and slowly descending at night. The team already tested the technique during a 26 hour flight in 2010.
The global flight will take place in stages, with shorter legs of 24 to 36 hours over land. During these legs pilots are not expected to sleep. But when flying over water, they'll take "micro-naps" of 20 minutes or so, something that is being tested during the current simulation.
The test flight started Tuesday in a full-size cockpit mockup of the second Solar Impulse airplane, which is currently under construction. Borschberg has an array of wires and sensors hooked up to his body so the team can monitor him closely. In addition to pushing the limits of sleep-deprived piloting, the experiment also will help refine the design of a cockpit that will include space for mission-critical equipment and room for the second pilot to rest.
"Used for the first time the toilet on board" Borschberg tweeted a little more than a day into the test, ''needs careful manipulation but it worked..."
The second Solar Impulse airplane, known as HB-SIB, is expected to begin flight testing this spring.
The first airplane, HB-SIA (pictured above), has a wingspan of 208 feet. It was powered by four 10-horsepower electric motors drawing power from nearly 12,000 solar cells. Cruise speed was less than 50 mph. The new airplane will be larger, with a pressurized cockpit allowing the pilots to climb to nearly 40,000 feet.
*Photos: Solar Impulse/Jean Revillard *
