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Sijia Jiang

The fuel-free Solar Impulse 2 aircraft and its two Swiss daredevil pilots will have a month-long stopover in China before attempting a historic five-day non-stop flight across the Pacific.
Andre Borschberg, who will pilot that leg, said the China stop would be "the most important" for their project to fly around the world using just solar power as they believed the country was well on the path to becoming the world leader in green technology.
"We're very excited to have made it to China. It is the most important stop for us," he told the Sunday Morning Post from Chongqing , where the plane landed on Tuesday. That leg was piloted by project initiator Bertrand Piccard after a 20-hour flight from Mandalay, Myanmar.
WATCH: When Solar Impulse landed in China after 20-hour flight from Myanmar

Bad weather in Nanjing, the last stop before the Pacific, has kept the team in Chongqing. As it is 72 metres wide but weighs a mere 2,300kg, the single-seater plane can be rocked around by wind and rain before it gains altitude - up to 8,500 metres.
The team, on a mission to promote clean energy with their daunting undertaking of flying around the world using no fuel, has a packed month ahead filled with meetings with China's science associations, green-technology companies, media, and schoolchildren before making the flight to Hawaii.
They hoped for a possible "weather window" at the end of this month, Borschberg said.
Their longest stopover is in China not least because the country is the world's largest solar-energy producer. China has been instrumental to driving down the cost of production of solar technology, thanks to a top-down commitment. "China is really the No1 in the world in solar energy. I guess in some time [it] will also be No1 on the green tech side," Borschberg said.
China last year poured US$90 billion into clean-energy development, which topped the world, compared with the US$52 billion laid out by the United States and US$41 billion by Japan, the second- and third- biggest spenders.
The central government has pledged to double the use of renewable energy from 10 per cent of its energy mix in 2013 to 20 per cent by 2030.
Borschberg says energy management is exactly what the upcoming Nanjing-Hawaii challenge is all about, "a moment of truth" for the entire project that puts human and technological limits to test.
"If you don't manage your energy well, you cannot go through the night. It is just the same for resources on earth: you have to manage your current situation so your future is sustainable," he said.
With a maximum speed of only 140km/h, the 8,500km leg across the ocean is going to take Solar Impulse 2 at least five days.
WATCH: The Solar Impulse 2 in action

"Five days [and] five nights is something we have never done before. The plane will need to be able to recharge its batteries and the pilot will need to be able to recharge his personal battery," Borschberg said.
He admitted the longest single flight he had made before was only 29 hours with the prototype Solar Impulse 1 four years ago.
Although the plane was very reliable, with cutting-edge technology based on 12 years of development, he said: "In the worst, worst-case scenario, I will use a parachute, and I have a small life raft. I know how to survive in the ocean, it is part of the situation."
He is only a little nervous - "a healthy amount of nervousness". He said he would be doing his mental preparation for the flight while enjoying an exciting month in China by engaging as many people as possible.
But first, he will need to make his way to Nanjing. The weather was looking to clear up around Wednesday, according to Solar Impulse's team of meteorologists. Borschberg said he would likely make a landing at Nanjing airport after midnight, the same as Piccard did at Chongqing, so as not to disrupt commercial traffic at a busy airport. "We are really a disturbance - because we are so big and so slow … Everything we do is special," he said.
He said he and the team were truly grateful for the support from the mainland's airports and aviation authority.
Solar Impulse 2 is expected to return to its departure point of Abu Dhabi by June after stopping at four more locations in the US and Europe after Hawaii.
READ MORE: Inside story on the Solar Impulse 2 project - a 35,000km journey with no fuel
 

Power naps, yoga to keep pilot of solar plane alert during flight across Pacific

How much sleep would you need to allow you to fly as high as Mount Everest and then come down every day? Only eight 20-minute power naps a day, according to Andre Borschberg.
Borschberg, 62, who will be the sole pilot flying the Solar Impulse 2 across the Pacific from Nanjing to Hawaii non-stop over at least five days, has revealed what life is like inside the solar-powered plane. And he is going to do yoga in the 3.8-cubic-metre cockpit, too.
During daytime, the solar plane cruises at a maximum altitude of 8,500 metres, just below that of commercial airliners, and descends to 1,500 metres at night to preserve energy. That is also a window to allow the pilot to catch some sleep. "The risk is too big to sleep when I am high up wearing an oxygen mask. If there's an oxygen problem, I will just sleep forever," Borschberg said.
Eight 20-minute sleep sessions per 24 hours were what he and fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard, 57, had been trained to do in the cockpit, he said.
"Twenty minutes is long enough to get the rest but not too long to leave the plane alone," he said. There is autopilot, and mission control in Monaco is also constantly monitoring.
But among the five legs they have completed so far since departing in Abu Dhabi last month, the 20-hour flight from Mandalay to Chongqing was the longest, so the challenge to stay functional for almost a week is unprecedented.
Of course, it is no ordinary feat to be able to alternate between deep sleep and the level of intense concentration required by flying. But Borschberg and Piccard are no ordinary souls.
Piccard, a psychiatrist, completed the first journey around the world in a balloon in 1995. Engineer-trained entrepreneur Borschberg is a yoga veteran with 20 years of experience.
"I developed a special programme for yoga postures I can do in the cockpit," he said. "Of course, I cannot do my sunset salutation or warrior pose in there, but there are postures you can do sitting or lying down.
"Some of the exercises are very good at stimulating the function of the organs, and I also do all the breathing techniques, the meditation, which helps me concentrate," he said. "So yoga will be part of my life in the cockpit."


Solar-powered plane's pilots to spend month in China preparing for risky, non-stop Pacific flight

Pilots Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard celebrate after the Solar Impulse 2 lands at Chongqing. Photo: Xinhua

Swiss pilots Andre Borschberg (left) and Bertrand Piccard of Solar Impulse 2. Photo: AFP

Pilots Andre Borschberg, Bertrand Piccard and their solar-powered plane meet the mainland media in Chongqing. Photo: AP

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The fuel-free airplane Solar Impulse 2 and its two Swiss daredevil pilots will have a month-long stopover in China before attempting a historic five-day non-stop flight across the Pacific.


Video | Solar-powered plane's pilots to spend month in China preparing for risky, non-stop Pacific flight

The fuel-free airplane Solar Impulse 2 and its two Swiss daredevil pilots will have a month-long stopover in China before attempting a historic five-day non-stop flight across the Pacific.