Solar Impulse 2, or Si2, took off from the Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Arizona on May 12 headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Piloting the solar plane was Bertrand Piccard at the controls.
The Si2 made good time landing at its next stop, Tulsa International Airport, on the same day at around 11:00 pm local time. The 975-mile flight took 18 hours and 10 minutes. Piccard saw the Si2 reach a maximum altitude of 22,000 ft with an average speed of 53.68 mph.
The flight from Phoenix to Tulsa was the next leg on the Si2’s historic round the world flight using solar energy. The goal is to demonstrate how modern clean technologies can achieve the impossible.
Weather permitting, Piccard’s partner André Borschberg, will pilot Si2 to the next stop-over and continue crossing the United States.