Solar Impulse 2 resumes transglobal flight

Pilot Bertrand Piccard took off at sunrise from the island of O'ahu, approximately 15.15 BST on April 21. His 4,000km journey will take him across the North Pacific Ocean to Mountain View in California, a flight that is expected to last about 62 hours. Piccard at this point has covered just over 25 per cent of the distance in what is the ninth leg of Solar Impulse 2's circumnavigation attempt. Updates on Piccard’s progress, as well as a live feed from inside the cockpit, can be found here.

The aircraft, which is powered by 17,000 photovoltaic cells that cover its top surfaces, has been laid up in Hawaii undergoing repairs and testing for the past several months. During the marathon eight leg from Japan to Hawaii, the aircraft’s batteries overheated. André Borschberg - who was the controls for that 117-hour flight - successfully completed the leg last July despite the problems.