Our ERE student group has been very active this year, and after running into members of the advance team for Solar Impulse – the solar airplane making a pit stop in Nanjing on its current round-the-world tour — they were able to schedule a visit for us when it arrived.

Solar Impulse in Nanjing

The airplane left Abu Dhabi on March 9th…. and the Nanjing stop came after a flight from Chongqing, the sixth leg of the flight. It took off from Nanjing on May 30th, aiming to make the six day ocean-crossing marathon from Nanjing to Hawaii – by far the longest (and almost certainly the most dangerous) of the entire trek — but ultimately got diverted to Nagoya, Japan when a cold front made flying conditions too risky.

The airplane itself has a very large wingspan (72 meters [236 feet], longer than a Boeing 747) holding more than 17,000 solar cells…. but it was the flying conditions that were really eye-opening, and made one appreciate the pilots’ tremendous dedication. For that six-day period, the pilot (only one flies at a time) would be seated in a cockpit and could not stand; could only sleep in twenty minute intervals; had no cabin pressurization, and hence would need an oxygen mask for much of the flight; and could be subjected to temperatures ranging from minus to plus 40 degrees C (i.e., -40 to 100+ degrees F). Obviously, he couldn’t take a stroll down the aisle to take a bathroom break either — and there is always the very real physical danger. Other than that…. well, I’m just glad that I’m an observer rather than participant!

Solar Impulse instructor
Photo credit: Matt Hess

The visit did gave me an incentive/excuse (as if either was needed!) to pick up & read David McCullough’s new book about the Wright brothers, describing their similarly intrepid efforts to undertake new – and indeed very radical – aerial experiments & tests more than a century ago. One can only hope that Solar Impulse’s results are as positive & as heralded as those groundbreaking endeavors described so masterfully in McCullough’s tome.