The first solar-powered flight around the world

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The First Solar-Powered Flight Around the World

Podcast: Witness History (BBC World Service)
Host: Kurt Brooks
Guest: Bertrand Piccard (pilot and explorer)
Date: July 23, 2026
Duration: ~9 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits the groundbreaking achievement of the first solar-powered flight around the world, completed by Solar Impulse 2 in 2016. Host Kurt Brooks interviews Swiss explorer and pilot Bertrand Piccard, who shares first-hand insights into the challenges, triumphs, and legacy of this pioneering journey. The episode blends Piccard's personal reflections with historical context, focusing on innovation, perseverance, and the transformative potential of clean technologies in aviation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Piccard’s Background and Inheritance of Exploration

• Exploration is a family expectation:
  • Piccard’s grandfather invented the pressurized cabin and was among the first to enter the stratosphere.
  • His father reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench (01:14).
  • Piccard, despite a fear of heights and shyness, found his calling through hang gliding and ballooning.

From Balloonist to Solar Pioneer

• First global flight experience:

  • Piccard co-piloted the Breitling Orbiter around the world using gas—a journey limited by fuel supply (02:04).
  • After nearly running out of fuel, Piccard realized “the sky is not the limit, the fuel is the limit,” inspiring his solar flight dream (02:45).

• Vision for Solar Flight:

  • Initial skepticism from traditional airplane manufacturers:
    • “I first went to airplane manufacturers… they looked at me and said, of course not” (03:10).
  • Pivoted to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to design an ultra-light, wide-span, solar-powered aircraft:
    • “72 meter wingspan, bigger than a jumbo jet, lighter than a family car, flying with the power of a scooter” (03:35).

Building and Testing Solar Impulse

• Innovation through unconventional partners:
  • Plane was built by a shipyard using carbon fiber; funding came from a diversity of industries—not aviation (03:51).
• Test Flights:
  • Maiden test in Switzerland (2014) proved the concept (04:13).

The Around-the-World Journey: Partners, Challenges & Triumph

• Team dynamic:

  • Piccard and Andre Borschberg, his co-pilot, alternated legs due to the single-seat cockpit.
    • “There’s always a negotiation… when you have two pilots and only one seat” (04:36).
  • Each brought unique expertise—engineering and exploration (04:47).

• Notable challenges:

  • The critical moment flying over the Pacific—autopilot failure and battery overheating:
    • “Safety review board said, abort the flight and come back to Japan… With Andre, we knew it would be the end… So we said, no way, we don’t come back” (05:47).
    • Batteries overheated; plane grounded in Hawaii for nine months, requiring new funding and repairs (06:10).

• Final stages and completion:

  • Piccard flew the grand finale from Hawaii to California and eventually landed in Abu Dhabi after 17 stages and 16 months (06:57).
  • “When I crossed the finish line… I thought, okay, now it’s worth it, we’ve done it… I could just enjoy flying… It was absolutely great” (06:57).

Reflections and Legacy

• Significance for green aviation:
  • “Maybe one day in the not so distant future, passenger planes could become a lot greener and cleaner” (07:34).
• Memorable moments:
  • Dialogues with the UN during the Paris Agreement signing, linking the flight to the decarbonization movement (08:01).
  • The realization:
    • “I started to think, wow, I’m in the future… That’s the future. And I came to the conclusion that it was not the future at all. It was the present… If I’m in the present and not in the future, it means that the rest of the world is in the past.” (08:33)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the pressure to succeed:
  • Bertrand Piccard (00:51):
    • “If now there is a technical problem, it’s 15 years of my life that are ruined.”
• On defining the project’s vision:
  • Bertrand Piccard (03:35):
    • “Flying with the power of a scooter. Nobody else wanted to build it, so we had to make it from nothing.”
• On the pivotal Hawaii leg:
  • Bertrand Piccard (05:47):
    • “With Andre, we knew it would be the end of the project. So we said, no way, we don’t come back… Andre continued the flight.”
• On the achievement’s meaning:
  • Bertrand Piccard (08:33):
    • “If I’m in the present and not in the future, it means that the rest of the world is in the past.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Piccard’s family and motivation for flying — 01:08 to 01:59
• Balloon trip around the world inspires solar dream — 02:04 to 03:06
• Creation and design of Solar Impulse — 03:10 to 03:51
• Test flights and challenges of the journey — 04:13 to 06:57
• Completion and reflections on impact — 06:57 to 08:47

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Takeaways

• Bertrand Piccard’s journey symbolizes innovation born from determination and a willingness to challenge established paradigms.
• Solar Impulse 2’s successful global flight demonstrates that current technology enables clean, sustainable aviation—a reality waiting for broader adoption.
• The project’s greatest legacy may be its inspiration for future generations to see “the sky is not the limit, the fuel is the limit.”

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Transcript

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

Foreign.

[Kurt Brooks]

Hello, welcome to Witness History from the BBC World Service with me, Kurt Brooks. I'm taking you back to 2016 and the completion of the first solar powered flight around the world. Solar Impulse 2 after a journey of more than 40,000 kilometers.

[Narrator/Reporter]

No one's ever tried anything like this before. The experimental plane's vast wings are packed with 17,000 solar cell and it's a test of endurance as well as technology.

[Bertrand Piccard]

If you announce that the goal is to fly around the world and there is 1km missing in the mind of the public, you have failed.

[Kurt Brooks]

I've been speaking to Bertrand Piccard, one of the two Swiss pilots behind that first solar powered flight.

[Bertrand Piccard]

And I was flying so slow, 30 miles an hour, and I was thinking, if now there is a technical problem, it's 15 years of my life that are ruined.

[Kurt Brooks]

Bertrand Picard grew up in a family where exploration was almost expected.

[Bertrand Piccard]

My grandfather invented the pressurized cabin and was the first man to climb into the stratosphere and to see with his own eyes the curvature of the earth. And then my father took his deep sea submarine to the absolute bottom of the Marina Trench, 11 km down, the deepest spot ever. So for me it was an inspiration. Of course I started to dream about being a great explorer, but I had fear of height. I was quite shy as a teenager and I thought, well, that's not a good start. And when I saw a hang glider flying, that was in 1974, I was 16 years old, I thought, that's for me, that's the way to heal myself.

[Kurt Brooks]

Hang gliding helped him confront that fear and ballooning pushed him even further.

[Bertrand Piccard]

When I was flying hang gliders, I started to meet balloonists and one of them invited me to be his co pilot to cross the Atlantic. I thought, after 5,000 kilometers of the Atlantic, I can do 35,000 kilometers more and do the entire world. And this is when I launched the Breitling Orbiter project. I flew around the world with Brian Jones, a British co pilot. And we flew 20 days nonstop, 45,000 kilometers. And at the landing there was only 40 kilos of gas left out of the 3,700 kilos from the start. And at that moment I thought, well, it's wrong to say the sky is the limit, the fuel is the limit. And I started to dream of flying without any fuel, solar power. And that's how the dream of solar imports was born in the desert of Egypt, just at the landing of Brightling Orbiter 3.

[Kurt Brooks]

But it wasn't an idea many people were ready to take seriously.

[Bertrand Piccard]

I first Went to airplane manufacturers and asked them, can you built a plane for me that can fly just on solar power? And they looked at me and said, of course not. And they said, because the sun is not giving enough energy to propel an airplane day and night. And, you know, that's the paradigm of today. You produce more. If you cannot produce enough, you cannot do it. So what did I do? I went to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and said, how can we make an airplane that can cope with the energy given by the sun? And this is how we came with an airplane that was 72 meter wingspan, bigger than a jumbo jet, lighter than a family car, flying with the power of a scooter. Nobody else wanted to build it, so we had to make it from nothing. It was a shipyard who built the big pieces in carbon fiber for our plane. The sponsors came from the world of chemistry, from the world of engineering, but not from aviation and not from energy.

[Kurt Brooks]

Solar Impulse had its first test flight in 2014 in Switzerland.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Test pilot Markus Scherdl prepared to make a breakthrough in aeronautical history. The maiden flight of the largest plane to be powered by the sun's rays.

[Kurt Brooks]

Solar Impulse proved the concept. Solar Impulse 2 would take it around the world.

[Bertrand Piccard]

There's always a negotiation when you have two pilots and only one seat.

[Kurt Brooks]

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg had to take turns sharing the 17 legs between them.

[Bertrand Piccard]

We are very, very different. He brought his experience of jet fighter pilot and engineer. I brought my experience of being an explorer, a psychiatrist, balloonist. It became quite obvious also that the Pacific should be done by the most experienced airplane pilot. And this was Andre.

[Kurt Brooks]

The first takeoff from Abu Dhabi. What was the general feeling to see Andre taking off?

[Bertrand Piccard]

And I was thinking, it's not only constructing a plane, it's flying the plane. It's proving that it works and all the challenge suddenly was huge. And I was stressed. It was terrible. And then the second flight, it was myself in the cockpit that was in Oman, flying to India.

[Kurt Brooks]

But while Bertrand's flights went smoothly, Andre soon ran into trouble.

[Bertrand Piccard]

Because after the takeoff of Andre Nagoya to fly to Hawaii, there was a system that did not work well on the autopilot. And the safety review board said, abort the flight and come back to Japan. And with Andre, we knew it would be the end of the project. So we said, no way we don't come back. Andre continued the flight. I had to calm down the team who was really in big anger against us. But like this, we could save the project and Andre could reach Hawaii. But the battery is overheated and we had to stay long time in Hawaii. We had to leave the plane there for nine months, change the batteries. I had to go back to Europe to find new sponsors for an additional year. But at the end it turned out perfectly well and I could take off again in April 2016 to fly from Hawaii to California. And then we were on our way back to Abu Dhabi.

[Kurt Brooks]

So the mission survived. And after 17 stages and 16 months, Bertrand Picard touched down in Abu Dhabi in Solar Impulse 2 on July 26, 2016.

[Bertrand Piccard]

And when I crossed the finish line then I thought, okay, now it's worth it, we've done it. And there was a fantastic moment. I had still about two hours of flying before landing to wait for the good wind. And during these two hours there was no pressure. I could just enjoy flying. I could speak to all the engineers of the team, congratulate them, they congratulated me, it was absolutely great. And then I got in my headset, the message, Solar Impulse, you are clear for landing.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Smooth and controlled touchdown. Bringing an end to what's been a remarkable and record breaking journey for the team behind this wonder plane. A chance now to reflect and and consider that maybe one day in the not so distant future, passenger planes could become a lot greener and cleaner.

[Kurt Brooks]

For Bertrand Picard, flying solar powered around the world is filled with special memories that will live with him forever.

[Bertrand Piccard]

There were several fantastic moments. One was a dialogue with the Secretary General of the United nations during the signing of the Paris Agreement. And I was telling what was happening in Solar Impulse. That was completely decarbonized. Flying on solar power with clean technology. Now there's a fantastic moment also when I started to think, wow, I'm in the future. I'm flying with no noise, no fuel, no pollution. That's the future. And I came to the conclusion that it was not the future at all. It was the present. It's what the technologies of today allow us to do today. When I understood that, I thought, wow, if I'm in the present and not in the future, it means that the rest of the world is in the past.

[Kurt Brooks]

Bertrand Picard was speaking to me, Curt Brooks for Witness History for the BBC World Service. It was a Made in Manchester production. If you've enjoyed listening, why not leave us a review? Please share it with anyone you think would like to hear it. It really helps us let people know about the amazing stories people tell us on Witness History. Make sure to hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

Imagine being here. Scientists have made the atomic bomb, the first one was dropped on a Japanese city this morning.

[Bertrand Piccard]

Here during the meeting Mr. Mandela was informed of the government's decision regarding his release.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And here witnesses have spoken of a wall of water that swept coastlines in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand.

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

Hear from the people who were there.

[Bertrand Piccard]

He heard me praying while he was shooting and he just stopped. He said I'm not going to.

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

I'm going to leave you here to

[Bertrand Piccard]

tell the story knowing that you have

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

a spy and that you're following a spy.

[Bertrand Piccard]

It doesn't get any cooler than that.

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

Witness history brings you first hand accounts.

[Kurt Brooks]

Merkel gets up and says I'm going

[Bertrand Piccard]

and Tusk says I'm locking the door. Nobody's leaving. You're reaching a compromise or you're not leaving this room. Was it shopping carts that made you rich? Well they didn't make me poor.

[Narrator/Archive Voice]

Listen now, search for witness history wherever you get your BBC podcasts.