Bertrand Piccard, chairman of the Solar Impulse project, adventurer, pioneer and the first to fly a solar-powered aircraft around the world, will motivate attendees at the 22 May Opening General Session of the 2017 European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2017).
“If you’re ready to inspired for the next adventure of your career, you need to hear Bertrand Piccard’s presentation,” said NBAA Director of Special Events Paige Kroner, whose organization hosts EBACE along with the European Business Aviation Association. “His talk will be a highlight of EBACE2017.”
Piccard, along with Solar Impulse’s co-founder Andre Borschberg, and a team of engineers, technicians, mathematicians, pilots and others developed the first zero-fuel airplane capable of flying day or night. Solar Impulse 1 completed its first test flight in 2009, and conducted several long-distance flights before the Solar Impulse 2 completed a round-the-world solar flight in 2016.
Solar Impulse 2 departed from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, traversed Asia, then completed its longest leg from Japan to Hawaii. On that leg, the aircraft’s batteries sustained substantial damage that required repair, but the flight eventually continued from Hawaii to California, across the U.S., over the Atlantic Ocean to Spain and back to its starting point in Abu Dhabi. Solar Impulse 2 completed its round-the-world mission without using a drop of fuel.
The Solar Impulse project was created to demonstrate the abilities of renewable energies and promote energy savings.
“The Solar Impulse project is Piccard’s way of proving the impossible to be possible,” said Kroner. “His experiences with the Solar Impulse project make him an exciting and thought-provoking speaker on management, teamwork, creativity and even crisis management.”
Learn more about Solar Impulse.
