TULSA- After a week of calling Tulsa home, Solar Impulse 2 is back in the air and moving on.
The plane took off early Saturday morning, but the impact it left on Tulsa remains.
"The moment that I love is when the tower calls 'Solar Impulse you are clear for takeoff.' Then you know the flight begins," said pilot Bertrand Piccard.
The solar plane that made a historical pit stop in Tulsa is back on the road...or more like in the skies once again.
Piccard says the stop was unplanned so expectations were a mystery.
"We had a week of discovery," he said. "An experience I had had never had until now...it was flying with new friends from Tulsa." said Piccard.
Solar Impulse 2 made its' way to Tulsa by way of Phoenix, taking a whopping 18 hours to arrive. The flight is part of an international trek that's first of it's kind.
"It's a symbol. Really when you're flying around the world in an airplane doing something that's technologically and humanely challenging in a way, it draws attention to the message we want to get out," said Solar Impulse Press team member Emily Greer.
They say it 's meant to demonstrate how modern clean technologies can make the world go 'round.
In the past week, hundreds of Tulsans got to see the aviation modern marvel up close before it prepared for takeoff once more.
Now with wheels up once again, Piccard says he wouldn't have traded this stop for the world.
"It's not just one more flight, it's a flight that's helped us move east to be closer to New York, to position ourselves for crossing the Atlantic." he said. I'll keep in mind all the friends and all the really good times we had here in Tulsa. It was really fantastic."
Solar Impulse 2's ultimate destination is the Middle East, but it will arrive in Dayton, Ohio Saturday night., home of aviation's heroes Orville and Wilbur Wright.
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