Abu Dhabi: The first solar plane making a round-the-world flight has further postponed the sixth leg of its flight in China to Thursday.
Since the flight landed in the Chinese city of Chongqing on March 31, it has postponed the onward journey to Nanjing in China several times due to bad weather.
Its planned departure for Nanjing after a few hours of landing in Chongqing was cancelled even before the plane reached there.
As there is no improvement in weather conditions, the plane will stay in Chongqing until Thursday. The flight is not possible now due to cross winds above limits, a representative of Solar Impulse-2 told Gulf News on Sunday.
Weather conditions had delayed Solar Impulse-2 in Ahmedabad in India and Mandalay in Myanmar.
André Borschberg will continue the onward journey to Nanjing in China from Chongqing.
The Solar Impulse team has already reached Nanjing for advanced preparations for the flight’s landing there.
Bertrand Piccard piloted the plane from Mandalay in Myanmar to Chongqing in its fifth leg. The approximately 20-hour-long flight of 1,375 kilometres was physically demanding for the pilot as he had to use an oxygen mask for almost 15 hours in the non-pressurised cockpit, facing temperatures plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
The flight was tough with steep ascent and the limited time allowed for high altitude preparation while flying over the Himalayas at the beginning of the flight.
During the coming months, Piccard and Borschberg will cross the Pacific Ocean and stop in the USA, North Africa or southern Europe before returning to Abu Dhabi to complete the circumnavigation of the world.
Piccard, initiator and chairman, and Borschberg, co-founder and CEO, will continue their journey, travelling 35,000 kilometres around the globe, accumulating 500 flight hours over five months to spread the message that clean technologies can be achieved through a pioneering spirit.
