Keeping its date with India, the Solar Impulse landed in Ahmedabad earlier this week and will stay parked for four days before leaving on the next leg of its round-the-world tour.
It will take off from Ahmedabad early on Sunday to reach Varanasi where it will have a pit-stop until Monday. Ahmedabad and Varanasi, which are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home city and lok Sabha constituency respectively, are coincidental choices determined by weather and airspace route fixed for the tour, according to the Solar Impulse team.
The day of the landing was hectic for a team of 15 engineers and crew members who prepared the Ahmedabad International Airport for the landing of the aircraft, which is the first solar-powered plane to embark on a world tour.
“The mobile hangers, which are a crucial part of the ground work has been in place and team is working out last minute detailing to accommodate the aircraft. Three engineers have also been a part of the critical team globally,” a spokesperson of ABB, one of the title partners of Solar Impulse said. Altran, the official engineer’s partners of Solar Impulse is the ground here. Among the things planned during the four-day stay on Ahmedabad would be student engagement programmes. The team has been interacting with students world over.
Solar Impulse dreams big and promotes cutting edge technologies. The ground crew and engineering staff of Solar Impulse check for at least 100 things on the plane and another crucial part is the mobile hangers, to survive in some harsh condition, at alien airports as it goes around the world. The hanger is made of a special canvas and protects the plane from dust and high temperatures. This is not a plane with traditional technologies, not all airports have the infrastructure to protect it.