Piccard flew it around the world Solar Impulse solar airplane crashed in Mexico
The famous Solar Impulse has been destroyed. The historic Swiss solar airplane, which once flew around the world without fuel, crashed in the Gulf of Mexico. No one was injured.
08.05.2026, 13:53
SDA
The Swiss solar airplane Solar Impulse has crashed in the Gulf of Mexico and been completely destroyed. A report by the US Transportation Security Administration on Friday confirmed a corresponding report by French-speaking Swiss radio and television station RTS.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a loss of power caused the plane to crash. The unmanned flight took off from Stennis International Airport in the US state of Mississippi on Monday morning, May 4. The aircraft then crashed in international waters in St-Louis Bay. No one was injured. The NTSB announced a final report at the end of the ongoing investigation.
Historic round-the-world flight
The crash occurred ten years after the plane completed its historic round-the-world flight without fuel. On July 26, 2016, the Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi, from where it had taken off on March 9, 2015. In 17 stages, the aircraft covered 42,000 kilometers and crossed four continents.
The two pilots, Bertrand Piccard from Vaud and André Borschberg from Zurich, took turns in the cockpit. The aircraft weighed only one and a half tons, but had the wingspan of a Boeing 747. 17,000 solar cells on the wings supplied the batteries with energy and enabled an average speed of 80 kilometers per hour.
Sales and military use
Three years after this success, Solar Impulse sold the aircraft to the Spanish-American start-up Skydweller. The sale price was never disclosed. Skydweller wanted to use the know-how to develop unmanned, autonomous aircraft for surveillance purposes.
The crash also put paid to plans to exhibit the aircraft in Switzerland. In the purchase agreement with Skydweller, it had originally been agreed that the Solar Impulse would be displayed at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne after its use.
Solar Impulse team "saddened"
Following the loss of the former Solar Impulse aircraft, the team behind the solar project was saddened. "Even though it is no longer the Solar Impulse aircraft, as it was taken over by the private company Skydweller Aero and extensively modified to turn it into a drone, the Solar Impulse team is saddened by the loss of a technological flagship," said the Solar Impulse communications department at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
