autoevolution
 

Sunseeker Takes World's First Solar-Powered Passenger Flight

Solar Flight, the company that created the first airplane to make the first solar powered crossing of America in 1990, has recently announced that their newest airplane had made the world’s first passenger flight at 12,000 feet (3,657 meters). The Sunseeker Duo is to take a round-the-world journey on 2015.
Sunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger Flight 7 photos
Photo: solar-flight.com
Sunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger FlightSunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger FlightSunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger FlightSunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger FlightSunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger FlightSunseeker Duo Takes Its First Solar-powered Passenger Flight
While Billionaires like Elon Musk are creating the world’s most efficient spacecrafts, engineers are preparing the first airplanes to fly only using green energy. Solar Flight, the world’s leader in solar powered aircraft technology, recently announced that two members of the team have successfully flown at the board of solar-powered Sunseeker Duo.

With this step made, the two - Eric and Irena Raymond - have turned Duo into the first solar-powered airplane to carry two people that ever flue. Now that is a bummer for all those petrol lobbyists out there, isn’t it?

However, what would you say if we’d tell that the team actually turned to Kickstarter in 2012 to raise the money they needed to develop the project. Construction was completed by the close of last year, followed by system tests and tweaks before heading up into the skies for solo runs.

According to their creators, the Duo incorporates all of the best features of the other Sunseeker aircraft and adds many refinements, as well as improved technologies. With this flight, the team demonstrated that the aircraft has enough power to maintain to a steady climb only using direct solar power.

Besides the huge energy efficiency the solar-powered airplane has it also is extremely quiet. Anyway, this is what the married couple wrote as a first impression: “Flying the Duo, skimming the white fluffy clouds from above and playing on the sky, I feel like a bird. No limitations, a pure freedom. It’s so quiet! Compared to a normal airplane, it’s like night and day. You need very good headset in every other powered airplane, but in this airplane you can speak normally even when the motor is running full power.”

After taking a first flight on Friday, the team repeated the experience today, only this time they took the Duo up to 12,000 feet (3,657 meters) because “it was hazy down low, so we climbed up.”
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories