Zoom imageSolar Impulse was the star attraction at the 49th International Paris Air Show.
Landing at an historic site: Charles Lindbergh touched down at Le Bourget Airport near Paris in 1927 following the first solo flight across the Atlantic. On June 14 of this year, another pioneer landed there: Swiss aviator André Borschberg with the “Solar Impulse HB-SIA” aircraft. He had flown from Brussels to Paris in the aircraft, which can fly only on solar power, for the 49th Paris Air Show, where the futuristic plane was the main attraction for hundreds of thousands of people.
The trip from Brussels to Paris was the second international flight by the Swiss solar airplane. A month earlier, Borschberg had piloted the 1,600 kilogram aircraft from Switzerland to Brussels, where it was used to promote commitment to the environment during the European Union’s Green Week.
Borschberg and his partner Bertrand Piccard, the initiator of the Solar Impulse, are looking to use their project to highlight the power of renewable energies for sustainable development and to show what is already technologically possible. This includes a plane that can fly night and day without any fuel and is expected to fly around the world in a few years’ time.
Bayer MaterialScience has been a Solar Impulse partner since 2010. The wings, engine nacelles, canopy, windows and seat padding of the current aircraft are already based on Bayer materials. A large team is currently working on additional areas of application to make the aircraft even lighter. “The Solar Impulse aircraft is a successful example of what can be achieved with determination and cutting-edge technologies,” said Patrick Thomas, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer MaterialScience.