After a successful conclusion to the world’s first roundtrip fully solar-powered intercontinental flight, here are the major highlights of what has been achieved:

MAY 2012

1.       24 May: Payerne to Madrid

• Pilot: André Borschberg
• Departure: 06:24 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 11:28 PM (UTC) at Madrid-Barajas International airport (Spain).
• Highlights:
  • Three world records currently being verified by the Air Sports Federation (FAI) for this flight.

JUNE 2012

2.       5 June: Madrid to Rabat

• Pilot: Bertrand Piccard
• Departure: 3:30 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 10:30 PM (UTC) at Rabat-Salé International Airport (Morocco).
• Highlights:
  • World’s first solar-powered intercontinental flight linking Europe to Africa.
  • Bertrand’s first Solar Impulse mission flight.

 3.       13 June: 1^st Attempt Rabat to Ouarzazate

• Pilot: André Borschberg
• Departure: 07:07 AM (UTC)
• Landing: HB-SIA returned to Rabat landing at 11:14 PM (UTC)
• Highlights:  
  • André undertook a reconnaissance mission to a local meteorological station prior to the flight to benefit from local knowledge complementing Solar Impulse’s sophisticated modeling programs.
  • The winds were twice as strong as expected, keeping the solar aircraft at a standstill. For the safety of the aircraft and pilot, the Flight Director decided to turn back.

 4.       21 June: 2^nd Attempt Rabat to Ouarzazate

• Pilot: André Borschberg
• Departure: 06:05 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 11:25 PM (UTC) at Ouarzazate International airport (Morocco).
• Highlights:
  • Symbolic destination to inaugurate the beginning of construction of what will the world’s largest thermo-solar power plant.
  • The aircraft was facing away from the sun most of the flight and André was shivering and very cold during a large portion of the leg.

 5.       29 June: Ouarzazate to Rabat

• Pilot: André Borschberg
• Departure: 6:33 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 09:22 PM (UTC) at Rabat-Salé international airport (Morocco).
• Highlights:
  • Strong westerly winds over the Atlas Mountains made finding a flight plan challenging.
  • In Rabat, HB-SIA underwent the usual technical check-up scheduled after a total of 50 hours of flight.

JULY 2012

6.       6 July: Rabat to Madrid

• Pilot: Bertrand Piccard
• Departure: 5:17 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 11:19 PM (UTC) at Madrid-Barajas International airport (Morocco).
• Highlights:
  • Bertrand not only had a guest in the cockpit (a Moroccan fly) but also completed the Solar Impulse speed record both forwards and backwards.

7.       17 July: Madrid to Toulouse

• Pilot: Bertrand Piccard
• Departure: 03:33 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 07:46 PM (UTC) at Toulouse-Francazal airport (France).
• Highlights:
  • Originally meant to be a direct flight to Payerne the small window of opportunity quickly closed causing Bertrand to land in Toulouse.
  • Toulouse: Headquarters of the historical Aéropostale, the world’s first commercial flight route connecting France to North Africa.

8.       24 July: Toulouse to Payerne

• Pilot: Bertrand Piccard
• Departure: 05:01 AM (UTC)
• Landing: 06:30 PM (UTC) at Payerne airfield (Switzerland)
• Highlights:
  • Landing welcomed by a group of Swiss Alphorn musicians and cheering spectators.
  • World’s first roundtrip fully solar-powered intercontinental flight.
  • 6’000km flown
  • 8 legs
  • 4 countries
  • 2 continents
  • 3 FAI world records being verified.
  • Over 2’723’391 unique visitors to the Solar Impulse website.
  • Over 4’164’130 viewers of the LIVE broadcastings.