Page 71 - SHARP Summer 2024

FLIGHT CLUB
SWISS EXPLORER AND CLIMATE ADVOCATE BERTRAND PICCARD TEAMS UP WITH BREITLING TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF SUSTAINABLE AVIATION
By Jeremy Freed
IN 2028, SWISS EXPLORER BERTRAND PICCARD AND
professional offshore sailor Raphaël Dinelli will climb aboard the Climate Impulse, an experimental hydrogen-powered aircraft, and attempt to fly around the world without stopping. If successful, the flight will last nine days, create zero emissions, and prove that a future of sustainable aviation is within reach. For Piccard — a third-generation explorer who achieved the first round-the-world solar-powered flight in 2016 — it’s just the latest chapter in a life defined by boundary-pushing expeditions. Breitling, the Swiss luxury watchmaker and long-time supporter of Piccard’s high-flying adventures, will be along for the ride.
“Climate Impulse represents a technological breakthrough,” says Piccard, explaining how in addition to renewably sourcing the hydrogen needed to power the aircraft, the Climate Impulse team must also figure out how to maintain the liquid hydrogen at -253°C during the estimated nine-day flight. It’s a serious challenge, but by solving it, Climate Impulse will open new horizons in aviation and move the world one step closer to a future of sustainable mobility.
“Everything is challenging as it has never been done before,” adds Piccard. “There are no benchmarks and nobody can explain to you how to do it. It requires the creativity of an innovative team, and it is exciting to invent something completely new.”
Both Piccard and Breitling are familiar with pushing boundaries in flight. The brand’s aeronautical legacy stretches back to the 1930s when it founded the Huit Aviation division to create precision cockpit instruments for the era’s pioneering aviators. In the decades that followed, Breitling became synonymous with flying thanks to de- signs like the Navitimer chronograph, whose computational slide rule bezel allows pilots to make complex calculations on the fly. Twenty-five years ago, the Breitling Orbiter missions saw Piccard achieve the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight, a feat recently immortalized by the Breitling Aerospace B70 Orbiter, a new titanium pilot’s watch featuring a piece of Piccard’s original balloon beneath the sapphire case back.
“I would wear their watches even if Breitling was not supporting me!” Piccard says. “But, more than that, Breitling has demonstrated a great loyalty and friendship since 1992, when I participated, and won, the first Transatlantic Balloon Race, and later during my three attempts to fly non-stop around the world in a balloon. They are authentically interested in innovation as well as in sustainability, and I wouldn’t want any other brand as the official timekeeper of my new adventure.”
Piccard’s interest in promoting sustainability is shared by Breitling, whose latest sustainability report outlined a plan to achieve absolute emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement goals by 2032 and 2050. “Climate Impulse wants to send a powerful message that modernizing and decarbonizing our world is possible,” says Aurelia Figueroa, global director of sustainability at Breitling. “With a shared vision of innovation and co-operation, Piccard, Dinelli, and their teams, together with Breitling, are poised to make history once again, inspiring a new generation of environmental stewardship.”
Climate Impulse is currently in its design phase, and initial test flights are slated to begin in 2026. For Piccard, making a successful non-stop hydrogen-powered flight around the world isn’t just about proving the legitimacy of zero-emissions aviation. His larger goal is to set an example of the many ways in which humans can avert the climate crisis through innovation and co-operation.
“It’s my call against pessimism and defeatism, against the mindset which sees no future and no solutions in the current environmental crisis,” he says. “Climate Impulse is a way to make our message heard and restore hope by showing that much more is possible than what we tend to think.”
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