Swiss pilot surpasses solar-powered plane altitude record

Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan beat the altitude document for a solar-powered electrical airplane in a flight that took him hovering to 9,521 meters, his staff introduced Wednesday.

The SolarStratos airplane made the landmark flight from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland on Tuesday, benefiting from heat air thermals to transcend the document that has stood for 15 years.

The licensed altitude document for a photo voltaic airplane stands at 9,235 meters (30,298 toes).

The achievement is “a kind of unforgettable peaks that outline nice human and technological adventures,” the SolarStratos mission mentioned in an announcement.

Domjan’s flight lasted 5 hours and 9 minutes.

“I share this second of pleasure with all of the individuals who have been making ready for this achievement for years,” the 53-year-old “eco-explorer” mentioned.

The information can be despatched to the World Air Sports activities Federation governing physique, which can resolve whether or not to validate the brand new document.

“It’s the stress altitude corrected to plain density altitude that’s acknowledged because the official reference for aviation altitude information,” the SolarStratos staff mentioned.

Capturing imaginations

Domjan is aiming to be the primary to take a solar-powered airplane above 10,000 meters—flying on the identical altitude as airliners.

If this barrier is damaged, the staff hopes to go on and make a primary manned solar-powered flight into the stratosphere, which at Switzerland’s latitude begins at round 12,000 meters.

“This achievement marks a significant milestone on the trail towards reaching the stratosphere utilizing solely solar energy—and already fulfills the mission’s purpose: to seize imaginations with emblematic, spectacular challenges that promote photo voltaic power and the safety of our biosphere and planet,” SolarStratos mentioned.

The front-mounted single propeller airplane, registration HB-SXA, is made from carbon fiber to make sure lightness and power.

SolarStratos is 9.6 meters lengthy, and its large wingspan of 24.8 meters accommodates the 22 sq. meters of high-spec photo voltaic panels topping the wings, and permits for flying at low speeds.

The airplane can take off at low speeds, from 50 kilometers per hour upwards. Its most pace is 140 kph, whereas its cruising pace is round 80 kph.

The dream of flight

In 2012, the pioneering Domjan grew to become the primary particular person to sail all over the world in a totally solar-powered boat.

“It is essential to exhibit what we will obtain with photo voltaic power,” the adventurer informed AFP.

“The dream of flight might be the oldest dream of mankind.

“My purpose is to indicate to the younger technology of as we speak and tomorrow that tomorrow it can nonetheless be doable to fly with out burning any fossil energies, with emitting any carbon dioxide.

“That is what we need to obtain: it is actually to indicate that the world of tomorrow might be higher than what we’ve got as we speak.”

Two-stage ascent

A warm-up flight on July 31 received to six,589 meters—surpassing the airplane’s earlier finest in 2024.

A primary try on Friday was rapidly deserted when the forecast thermals didn’t materialize, saving the batteries for Sunday when the airplane received to eight,224 meters.

In the course of the first part of document makes an attempt, the plane has to make most use of rising heat air currents to climb to round 4,000-5,000 meters.

It then has to recharge its batteries at this altitude earlier than climbing once more.

If the flight is to be licensed as a document, all of the power used throughout the flight should have been produced by the photo voltaic cells.

Earlier than take-off, the batteries have to be absolutely charged utilizing photo voltaic power, and the airplane has to land below its personal energy—it can’t glide again in on zero cost—and have a minimum of 16% cost within the batteries.

The present document was set in 2010 by the Photo voltaic Impulse experimental airplane, with Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg on the controls.

The challenge’s promoter, Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard, then constructed a second photo voltaic plane which efficiently made a round-the-world journey, in levels, between March 2015 and July 2016.

© 2025 AFP