TOKYO: A revolutionary solar-powered aircraft was past “the point of no return” and flying over the Pacific Ocean bound for Hawaii on Monday, on the most ambitious leg of its quest to circumnavigate the globe.

After a month of delays in Japan and a last-minute false start last week, mission controllers declared Solar Impulse 2 had taken off from the central Japanese city of Nagoya shortly after 3am on Sunday.

“No Way Back! This is a one way ticket to Hawaii,” tweeted @solarimpulse.

Pilot “Andri Borschberg has passed the point of no return and must now see this 5 days 5 nights flight through to the end”.

Around 12 hours after take-off, the aircraft was more than 1,000 kilometres into its 7,900-kilometre flight, according to the Solarimpulse.com website, which showed the flight expected to describe an arc between Japan and Hawaii.

“We have to follow like a corridor with no clouds,” mission initiator Bertrand Piccard said.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2015

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