Monday, December 22, 2025
ADVT 
National

Good Weather And Some Luck Could Bring A Record-Shattering Solar Impulse 2 Aircraft To Vancouver

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 14 Apr, 2016 01:12 PM
    Vancouver is one of four locations being considered as the North American West Coast destination for a history-making flight.
     
    Scientists and pilots linked to the round-the-world flight of a solar-powered airplane are expected to decide the destination in the next month as they await a favourable weather window.
     
    West Coast destinations, including Phoenix, the San Francisco area and Los Angeles, have been selected to allow maximum flexibility for route planning and weather conditions.
     
    The Solar Impulse 2 is able to fly day and night without fuel and has completed one jump across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Hawaii on its way across North America and Europe to Abu Dhabi.
     
     
    But a news release from the programs co-founders says the 117-hour, 52-minute non-stop 8,900-kilometre flight last July overheated the batteries and the plane has been grounded in Hawaii since then, completing repairs and test flights.
     
    The single-seat, carbon fibre Solar Impulse 2 weighs little more than a small car and has more than 17,000 solar cells built into its nearly 72-metre wingspan, providing renewable energy for four electric engines.
     
    "An airplane with perpetual flight endurance, without fuel, like the Solar Impulse, is not only a first in the history of aviation, but also in the history of energy," Bertrand Piccard, the project's chairman, said in the release.
     
    "The primary purpose of this adventure is to demonstrate that modern clean technologies can achieve the impossible and encourage everyone to use these same energy efficient solutions on the ground in their daily lives for mobility, construction, lighting, heating, cooling and more."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Five Who Died In Fiery Van Crash Were All Adults From Newfoundland: Police

    Five Who Died In Fiery Van Crash Were All Adults From Newfoundland: Police
    Investigators say the passenger van collided with a pickup, swerved into a ditch and burst into flames near Long Harbour.

    Five Who Died In Fiery Van Crash Were All Adults From Newfoundland: Police

    Rob Ford's Family Posts Tribute Video Set To Puff Daddy Song 'I'll Be Missing You'

    Rob Ford's Family Posts Tribute Video Set To Puff Daddy Song 'I'll Be Missing You'
    The four-minute video posted on YouTube features clips of supporters hugging Ford while Faith Evans's voice from the track "I'll be Missing You" plays. 

    Rob Ford's Family Posts Tribute Video Set To Puff Daddy Song 'I'll Be Missing You'

    Risk Of E. Coli Prompts Fraser Health To Warn About Beef Sold In Chillwack Butcher Shop

    Risk Of E. Coli Prompts Fraser Health To Warn About Beef Sold In Chillwack Butcher Shop
    British Columbians are being warned to steer clear of a batch of raw beef from a Fraser Valley butcher shop.

    Risk Of E. Coli Prompts Fraser Health To Warn About Beef Sold In Chillwack Butcher Shop

    Regina Man Appeals Sentence In Death Of Young Girl, Abuse Of Sister

    Regina Man Appeals Sentence In Death Of Young Girl, Abuse Of Sister
    Kevin Goforth was given a life sentence with no parole for 14 years.

    Regina Man Appeals Sentence In Death Of Young Girl, Abuse Of Sister

    Finance Minister Bill Morneau Rejects Idea Of Independent Employment Insurance Fund

    Finance Minister Bill Morneau Rejects Idea Of Independent Employment Insurance Fund
    The Liberals have no plans to make Canada's employment insurance fund independent of the federal government, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Thursday.

    Finance Minister Bill Morneau Rejects Idea Of Independent Employment Insurance Fund

    Quebec City Mayor Up For Sharing 2026 Olympic Events With Calgary And Vancouver

    Quebec City's mayor says he has had discussions with his counterparts in Calgary, Vancouver and Lake Placid about sharing events at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

    Quebec City Mayor Up For Sharing 2026 Olympic Events With Calgary And Vancouver