Solar plane would make its first flight around the world in 2013

The first flight around the world in a solar plane could be produced in 2013, said Monday the project initiator and president of Solar Impulse, Bertrand Piccard, who has been flying with this type of aircraft a day and night and now builds full a new device lighter.Piccard made the announcement during the presentation of the V World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), held from Monday until Wednesday at the premises of the Fair in this city in eastern Spain.
"The plane works is completed and able to fly day and night thanks to batteries that power four electric motors that are recharged by the sun and the Solar Plane. It is possible that in a couple of years we can cross the Atlantic Ocean and that 2013 we are able to turn around the world, "he said.

Solar Plane around the World

The first solar airplane that has managed Piccard flying day and night has a wingspan of 64 meters, similar to that of an Airbus 340, a weight similar to a car, some 1,600 kilos, and is capable of flying at 9,000 meters altitude."We are now building a second aircraft, with which we intend to circumnavigate the world, with a larger cabin and lighter" he addedin the Solar Plane.But despite the lateness of the project, the Swiss psychiatrist responsible for the project Solar Impulse acknowledges that "it's crazy to think that at present this technology can be applied in commercial aviation.
However, compared Piccard first solar flight of Charles Lindbergh's feat in 1927 (first transatlantic flight.)

"Today the solar flight is performed by a single pilot in an aircraft loaded with batteries in the Solar Plane, as that was made by one person on a plane completely filled with gas," he said.
"We must keep the door open to evolution. Fortunately understands that civil aviation is a great waste of current flights, where fuel is needed to cool the whiskey for passengers, is unsustainable from an energy standpoint," he said about the Solar Plane.

Solar Airplane

Therefore advocated Piccard union "of those who believe in this" to "raise a revolution in the minds of people and they understand how renewable energies."
"Maybe solar power and hydrogen can be produced in the future we can get passengers on board," said Piccard, who applauded the decision of the IATA (International Air Transport Association) to work on your project.
When this project started in 2003, "we think we could complete in 2009. However, we need two years to find partners and form the team, and started designing the aircraft to 2006. I think if the Solar Plane finally completed around the world in 2013 the term will have been acceptable, "said the researcher.