Solar Impulse plane starts 24-hour test flight

news.bbc.co.uk

12 points·pierrefar··7 comments

Looks like they have an actual cockpit and pilot. I would have thought this would be a good use case for remote control. What reason is there to put a pilot in a (I assume) low-maneuverability prototype such as this?

For the press and for the record, most likely. Both result in them getting more funding for round n+1.

It's probably more likely that a pilot would be able to land the plane in case of a failure more so than an autopilot could. That plane probably isn't cheap, they don't want it to come down in someone's swimming pool.

I think GP had it right - now that it's landed and I've read the new article, I see it mentioned that they set a record specifically for manned solar-powered aircraft.

The video shows a freakishly-low take-off speed o_O It looks like you could practically jog along side it, though that could just be from its size.

"He is to take the aircraft to an altitude of 27,900ft (8,500m) by late Wednesday, when the sun's rays stop being strong enough to supply the solar cells with energy."

I'm just a bit confused by this. Wouldn't the sun's rays be stronger at higher altitudes because of having to travel through less atmosphere, and therefore less diffraction from the air?

I think they mean time of day, not altitude. Makes more sense without the comma.

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