Following up on the news of the first flight of the Solar Impulse, we now have video of the short hop down the runway in Switzerland.

Bertrand Piccard, the man behind the Solar Impulse program said on the team’s website that the flight might not look like much, but he believes it is an entry into a totally new and unchartered domain of flight.

“Never before – in the whole history of aviation - has an aircraft so big, so light and consuming so little energy actually flown.”

Piccard, who is an accomplished aviator and along with co-pilot Brian Jones, was the first to make an around the world balloon flight, reaffirmed plans for high altitude flights in the spring from the team’s new home in Payerne in western Switzerland.

After initial high altitude flights to more than 30,000 feet, the team will then perform the first test of the solar and battery power combination with a 36 hour flight. The plan is to fly on solar power during the day climbing to an altitude of roughly 35,000 feet, and then fly on battery power during the night while slowly descending (due to reduced power) to 20,000 feet by morning.

Piccard and a team of pilots plan to make a multi-stage around the world flight in a solar powered airplane similar to the current test aircraft using the same day-night technique in 2012.

Video: Solar Impulse/YouTube