First Solar-Powered Plane Soars High After Being Grounded for Months

The world's very first solar-powered plane, Solar Impulse 2, had been battling battery problems and bad weather which put the last leg of its mission to a momentary halt. However, the aircraft has finally taken the skies once again after nine months, flying from Hawaii to Mountain View.

The aircraft resumed the ninth leg of its journey in Hawaii. It took off on Friday at 4PM UCT (5PM BST/12PM ET) and is expected to land in Moffett Airfield in Mountain View as early as Saturday. The solar-powered aircraft began its global flight in March 2015 in Abu Dhabi. Cnet.com reported that after finishing its eighth leg in July 2015 from Japan to Hawaii, which is its longest flight distance at 5,545 miles (8,924 km), the aircraft needed to stay on the ground in Hawaii so crews could fix the batteries after it overheated.

According to the DailyMail, Solar Impulse 2's next stop after California will be New York, and Europe then and back to Abu Dhabi. The plane is being piloted by Swiss adventurers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg. During their press conference on the air strip before leaving Hawaii at the pre-flight checks, Piccard said: "Thank you, goodbye, and see you in San Francisco in three days, I hope."

The co-pilot Andre Borschberg, who waved off his teammate from the airstrip told reporters: "You train [to be patient] and your plan sometimes has to be modified, and that's not always easy." He added that you always need to be sure that your mind is in the right place when you have a tough decision to make. "We try to stay Zen and calm," he said.

The Solar Impulse Blog stated they had three test flights done at Oahu's Kalaeloa Airport on March 14 to ensure that the aircraft was ready to resume its flights again. Swiss aviator Bertrant Piccard conducted a series of low-altitude training procedures following several months of repairs and maintenance. The blog also stated that the test flights were aimed to allow Mr. Piccard to get used to handling the aircraft and its systems again.