Just a year ago, I graduated from Virginia Tech with my degree in electrical engineering and now I am in Phoenix, AZ with Solar Impulse, a 326 ft. wingspan solar-powered airplane, preparing myself to travel across the United States, Europe, and finally land in Abu Dhabi.
How did this happen? Graduating college, I did not even know there was such a job available. I accepted a job with Covestro (formerly Bayer MaterialScience) and was ready to take on the world.
Even though I had sketched out my 1-year and 5-year plans, I have learned now that you really cannot plan anything in life. After a couple months at Covestro, I was approached with an opportunity to become a team member of Solar Impulse. Solar Impulse is the first round-the-world flight powered only by the sun – a dream job for any adventurous electrical engineer.
Covestro was looking for an engineer with a background in electronics or alternative energy that had experience in public relations and could fly around the world for 6 months. It seemed like every qualification fit me perfectly. I had done my capstone in semiconductor research and had taken a class in alternative energy and did PR for my sorority.
Solar Impulse is a project born in Switzerland and the team’s official language is English, but most are native French speakers. Coincidentally, I happened to have studied French for a number of years in school. It was a perfect match; and on February 12th I joined the team in Hawaii to resume the round-the-world journey and also became the only American member on the ground crew for this historic flight.
So what is Solar Impulse? Solar Impulse is a project determined on completing the first ever round-the-world flight with a solar powered airplane. The plane only carries one passenger, the pilot, and has a wider wingspan than a standard Boeing 747 yet it only weighs 5,100 pounds! From now thru the summer of 2016, the plane will be in the stopping a various locations until our final destination of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
My purpose on the team is to serve on the ground crew – I have many different tasks that vary on any given day. The ground crew is comprised of 16 people and is primarily responsible for maneuvering the plane. Takeoffs and landings are the most exciting for me. We take off early in the morning and receive a briefing with our taxing positions. Sometimes I am on the handling mast connected to the wing with the task of keeping the wing balanced, and sometimes I am pulling the plane at the main landing gear. Other times, I am riding an electric bicycle at 40 mph to be there as a secondary backup to catch the plane if it passes the catching crew.
In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, this plane is unlike other planes. It does not taxi or land fully by itself. My job is to assist the plane in its takeoffs and landings. When the plane lands, the ground crew and I line the runway and prepare to catch the plane. We call this the catching crew. We wait until the plane slows down and then run to guide the handling masts (bar connected to a part of the wing), until the plane stops. Then we hold on tightly to the handling mast and communicate to the other side to make sure we are balanced. On top of all of this, I also maintain and contribute to internal and external public relations for Covestro through live streams and social media.
I am going to be traveling for the next few months with the plane as we complete the round-the-world journey and I already have had so many unique experiences. My favorite experience was a day in Hawaii when we were doing a training flight. The plane passed right over my head on the runway and the sun was just rising. It was one of the most beautiful memories I have and it makes me so excited to see what the future brings and gives me the willingness to be a part of its creation.
Don’t forget to take a listen to Paige’s (micro)bio.