May 17, 2008
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Solar Impulse Virtual Flight: 25 Hours in the Cockpit
Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg during the Virtual Flight
Solar Impulse hangar, Dübendorf, Switzerland: This is the location where work is normally carried out on the construction of the solar airplane, prototype. However this week, practice flights of a special kind have been taking place from this site. As part of the Solar Impulse Virtual Flight 2008, an original replica of the prototype cockpit has been used for the very first time.On Tuesday at dawn, Bertrand Piccard kicked off the four-day series of tests and took over the controls of the flight simulator, piloting a flight lasting 25 hours under “real conditions” until Wednesday morning. After nearly one thousand kilometres, Piccard “safely landed” the solar airplane at precisely 8:43 am on the virtual landing strip. “At first I thought I would be simulating a flight – but afterwards it felt as if I was already flying the real airplane,” concluded Piccard. The second 25-hour test started on Thursday morning with André Borschberg at the controls landing at 7:18 am.
During the test phases, the simulator was fed with the current weather data along with geographic parameters – which means the giant panorama on five screens in front of the cockpit window shows not just mountains and valleys, but also cloud fronts, as well as day and night. As the Solar Impulse airplane is intended to fly around the world in 2011 without any fuel, it is particularly important to save enough energy during the day to fly through the night. Although it is guaranteed during the 25-hour virtual test flight, the Solar Impulse engineers can check energy levels on the instruments in the control room.
The team also monitored the physiological reactions of the pilots: they wore an oxygen mask throughout the entire flight as well as a breast belt with electrodes and sensors that made it possible to check their heart rate and breathing. To test reaction and performance, for example, the team had Piccard and Borschberg solve math problems. As the pilot’s capsule has space for only one person, the pilot must not fall asleep during the record flight around the world in 2011 – and this has been practiced during the virtual flight: 20 minute naps had to be sufficient. The pilots were equipped with a vibrating alarm on their bodies to notify them, for example, of too-strong a tilt to one side.
[More information about the Virtual Flight 2008]
During the test phases, the simulator was fed with the current weather data along with geographic parameters – which means the giant panorama on five screens in front of the cockpit window shows not just mountains and valleys, but also cloud fronts, as well as day and night. As the Solar Impulse airplane is intended to fly around the world in 2011 without any fuel, it is particularly important to save enough energy during the day to fly through the night. Although it is guaranteed during the 25-hour virtual test flight, the Solar Impulse engineers can check energy levels on the instruments in the control room.
The team also monitored the physiological reactions of the pilots: they wore an oxygen mask throughout the entire flight as well as a breast belt with electrodes and sensors that made it possible to check their heart rate and breathing. To test reaction and performance, for example, the team had Piccard and Borschberg solve math problems. As the pilot’s capsule has space for only one person, the pilot must not fall asleep during the record flight around the world in 2011 – and this has been practiced during the virtual flight: 20 minute naps had to be sufficient. The pilots were equipped with a vibrating alarm on their bodies to notify them, for example, of too-strong a tilt to one side.
[More information about the Virtual Flight 2008]
to overview