On Thursday, September 16, 2021, the CREATeV solar-powered airplane successfully completed a long flight of more than 18 hours. The aircraft took off and landed in the dark at 3:20AM and 9:27PM, respectively. This flight time was possible despite an unexpectedly strong cloud cover during the day.
The flight was another important step in the development of our 6.3m, 12kg solar-powered aircraft, which has the ultimate goal of setting an endurance world record by flying nonstop for longer than a month. To date, our aircraft has accumulated over 50 hours of flight time and has demonstrated the ability for in-flight charging, night takeoffs and landings, and autonomous navigation.
Check out the CityNews Toronto coverage of our project.