Solar powered plane heads to China

According to reports Solar Impulse, the fuel-free aeroplane, is up in the air again on the fifth leg of its round-the-world flight. Bertrand Piccard is piloting the aircraft and the plane left Mandalay in Myanmar just after 22:00 on Sunday. The plane is now heading for Chongqing in China where it aims to make a brief stop, and then try to reach Nanjing on the east coast of the country.

This would then set up Solar Impulse for the first of its big ocean crossings - a five-day, five-night flight to Hawaii.

Mission control will not make a decision on the Nanjing leg until late on Monday. The decision may rest on the state of the energy reserves held in the plane's batteries.

China's air traffic authorities would like the team to start the sixth leg before dawn, but if the reserves are marginal, then Solar Impulse will be held in Chongqing until the batteries can be charged.

The problem with this scenario is that poor weather is forecast in the Chongqing region in the coming days, and if Solar Impulse does not leave straightaway, it could be delayed for perhaps a week.

Solar Impulse took off from Mandalay International Airport in darkness at 03:36 local time, Monday (22:06 on Sunday). Leg five is a long one, with about 1,375km, and it is expected to take roughly 19 hours.

The journey would see Solar Impulse landing around midnight local time at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.

No solar-powere aeroplane has flown around the world so far, and the journey started around 20 days ago in Abu Dhabi.

The Swiss-based project expects the circumnavigation of the globe to be completed in a total of 12 legs, with a return to the Emirate in a few months' time. In the past month, Solar Impulse has already set two world records for manned solar-powered flight.

The first was for the longest distance covered on a single journey, of 1,468km between Muscat, Oman, and Ahmedabad, India. The second on the other hand, was for a groundspeed of 117 knots (216km/h; 135mph), which was achieved during the leg into Mandalay, Myanmar, from Varanasi, India.

Bertrand Piccard is piloting the single-seater aircraft in with his business partner, Andre Borschberg.

According to reports Solar Impulse, the fuel-free aeroplane, is up in the air again on the fifth leg of its round-the-world flight. Bertrand Piccard is piloting the aircraft and the plane left Mandalay in Myanmar just after 22:00 on Sunday. The plane is now heading for Chongqing in China where it aims to make a brief stop, and then try to reach Nanjing on the east coast of the country.

This would then set up Solar Impulse for the first of its big ocean crossings - a five-day, five-night flight to Hawaii.

Mission control will not make a decision on the Nanjing leg until late on Monday. The decision may rest on the state of the energy reserves held in the plane's batteries.

China's air traffic authorities would like the team to start the sixth leg before dawn, but if the reserves are marginal, then Solar Impulse will be held in Chongqing until the batteries can be charged.

The problem with this scenario is that poor weather is forecast in the Chongqing region in the coming days, and if Solar Impulse does not leave straightaway, it could be delayed for perhaps a week.

Solar Impulse took off from Mandalay International Airport in darkness at 03:36 local time, Monday (22:06 on Sunday). Leg five is a long one, with about 1,375km, and it is expected to take roughly 19 hours.

The journey would see Solar Impulse landing around midnight local time at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.

No solar-powere aeroplane has flown around the world so far, and the journey started around 20 days ago in Abu Dhabi.

The Swiss-based project expects the circumnavigation of the globe to be completed in a total of 12 legs, with a return to the Emirate in a few months' time. In the past month, Solar Impulse has already set two world records for manned solar-powered flight.

The first was for the longest distance covered on a single journey, of 1,468km between Muscat, Oman, and Ahmedabad, India. The second on the other hand, was for a groundspeed of 117 knots (216km/h; 135mph), which was achieved during the leg into Mandalay, Myanmar, from Varanasi, India.

Bertrand Piccard is piloting the single-seater aircraft in with his business partner, Andre Borschberg.