An approval has been granted to pilot André Borschberg by the Solar Impulse team for flying through the night. The panel on the ground had been vigilantly monitoring the aircraft’s batteries and power usage all through the day in Switzerland.

The decision was made, as the sun set over the mountains and it was confirmed that the airplane would stay up and go on with the flying through the darkness of night. Not taking the wind into consideration, which was a little more than expected, everything else had gone the way it was planned.

Thanks to a tailwind, at one point, the solar-powered electric plane attained a top speed of 71 miles per hour and proved that the wind wasn’t all bad news.

After 14 hours of flying, Borschberg closed down the solar power generators and has instead decided to rely on a moderate drop and battery power to keep flying. With no autopilot on embark; it would be up to the human pilot to keep the aircraft airborne.

"The rest of the parameters are good. Which means that the team mission can take the decision to go through the night”, said Solar Impulse Chief, Bertrand Piccard.

With the batteries completely charged, Borschberg is estimated to touchdown back at the home airfield in Payerne, Switzerland, at sunrise on Thursday morning local time.