On 23 July, at dawn, SolarStratos took to the skies above Payerne once again for the first of many test flights \u2013 such great news for the whole team and its supporters! July was a busy month of preparations leading up to this moment: at the beginning of the month, test pilot Miguel A. Iturmendi, ran some low and medium speed tests on the tarmac at the base in Payerne. These tests were conclusive, so the technical team made various adjustments to prepare the aircraft for its first flight in 2020.<\/p>\n
In parallel, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation issued the permit to fly and so, on Thursday 23 July, SolarStratos rolled out of the shed and took off for a low altitude flight lasting 20 minutes! Miguel A. Iturmendi, one of the team\u2019s test pilots, was at the controls and relished the opportunity to familiarise himself with the solar prototype. On landing, he was very happy with the first experience: \u201cI got some good feedback. SolarStratos feels like a big and very good glider. The aircraft\u2019s climbing performance is good, better than I imagined. And you have to be vigilant when landing as the plane needs a long landing distance.\u201d<\/p>\n
This first flight and the upcoming test flights are designed to settle technical details in order to be able to gently increase the altitude and duration of the flights.<\/p>\n\n\t\t