André Borschberg initiated the Crossing of the United States

Tuesday 3rd May 2016

The warm Arizona air welcomed André Borschberg to Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 3:55AM UTC, 5:55AM CET on May 3rd, and 8:55PM MST on May 2nd. After spending a few hours cruising at 22,000 feet in cold temperatures, André is relieved to land on the warm tarmac.

This flight marks the first flight of the Crossing of the United States. Our goal with this part of the round-the-world solar journey is to reach New York as quickly as possible in order to continue circumnavigating the globe with the Atlantic Crossing. This seems like a never-ending adventure!

André Borschberg managed the 15 hour and 55 minute flight very easily, he even got to Phoenix earlier than expected with strong tail winds that pushed him at 186 km/hour - 115 miles/hour - well above Si2’s flight speed average! He flew close to the SpaceX headquarters and above the Mojave Desert where many American heroes pushed the limits of aviation. Individuals including Burt Rutan, Charles Yeager, Paul MacCready, and Richard Branson have all inspired Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg to build a solar-powered aircraft.

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This blog post has been originally published here