A pilot just set out to fly 4,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean — without any fuel

(Image credit: Liu Yanmin/ChinaFotoPress)

last updated 29 June 2015

André Borschberg is most definitely a daredevil. And if he lands this stunt, he'll also be a record-breaker.

Borschberg just set out on a five-day, 4,000-mile-long journey in which he'll fly over the Pacific Ocean in a solar plane, without any fuel. The plane, the Solar Impulse, runs entirely on solar power, and as its sole pilot, Borschberg is reportedly "subsisting on naps and a bit of mind-focusing yoga" in order to complete the harrowing five-day journey. The Japan-to-Hawaii route is the final leg of the plane's trip across the globe; Borschberg is hoping he will become the first pilot to circumnavigate the globe in an electric plane.

But the final leg of the trip comes with substantial risk: The Solar Impulse relies on every daylight hour's worth of solar energy to fully charge, so, as Bloomberg Business points out, "a morning of overcast skies could end in disaster."