In 2022, thanks to the Sol.Ex. – his first solar glider, Jean-Baptiste Loiselet completes a tour around France by the air, in total autonomy, with a CO2 impact close to absolute zero.

Since then, he achieves remarkable performances with the Sol.Ex., flying around yet perfectly respecting the environment.

In 2022, thanks to the Sol.Ex. – his first solar glider, Jean-Baptiste Loiselet completes a tour around France by the air, in total autonomy, with a CO2 impact close to absolute zero.

Since then, he achieves remarkable performances with the Sol.Ex., flying around yet perfectly respecting the environment.

And then ?

Let’s take up exciting challenges with this groundbreaking way of traveling, and take benefit of this to meet the « sustainable world pioneers » !

Hot topics

The two seater solar glider : an aircraft for everyone ?

Altitude world record – just ratified !

Presentation at the « Ecrans de l’aventure » in Dijon

Stunning facts

2022 : first »zero impact » round France tour, totalizing more than 2600 km in 17 stops in total autonomy

2023 : first aircraft ever to perform daily flights without refueling at the salon du Bourget

2024 : altitude world record see more …

(5675m) in « electric ultralight » category

Sept 2023 2024 & 2025 : 1er price in « hybrid » category at Electrifly-in (Berne – Switzerland)

🏆 The Sol.Ex. counts today more than 250 flying hours and has never been plugged anywhere ! 🏆

The solar glider : a pioneering concept

And first aircraft ever which allows its pilot to travel without limits, in total autonomy while perfectly respecting our planet’s ecosystem.

A glider is an aircraft made to travel over great distances using only the atmosphere’s energy (wind & updrafts).
In good weather conditions, a pure glider (without engine) can soar over hundreds of kilometers at once.
However, a pure glider can’t takeoff on its own. It will use a tow plane or a winch..

Almost all the solar aircraft which have been built were meant to use only photovoltaïc power. They usually are really wide and light aircraft, therefore fragiles, requiring calm weather conditions and great teams and ground logistics to be able to fly.

The solar glider – or « electric motorized sailplane with solar panels » – is an aicraft based on a regular sailplane, therefore robust, able to do cross country, onto which has been installed an electric engine with a propeller, a battery and solar panels on the wings to recharge the battery.

💨 Just like a regular sailplane, he uses air movements, updrafts, as main energy to soar over distance, engine shut down.

☀️ The electric engine occasionally powered by photovoltaïc energy harvested all day long – in flight or on ground – allows to take off, jump over tricky parts or extend the pure soaring flight.

Because it knows perfectly how to combine wind and solar energies, the solar glider needs no one other than its pilot to takeoff, travel and land, without having to bother about finding a gas station or an electric plug.

Its unequaled agility to mix pure soaring flight with motorized flight allows to consider unprecedented flight strategies.

⚡️ solar panels allow to have much more electric energy than on a non-solar aircraft.

🚀 the ability to get full engine power in less than 5 seconds and use it for very short sequences allows to jump over mountain passes or catch an updraft which would have been too far away in pure soaring flight.

Fly

After 3 years of hard work, the first solar glider went out of the workshop. Its name ? the Sol.Ex. for SOLar EXperimental. And it's a good name : it is as handy and versatile as a bicycle which would have a small extra engine !
Its first flights were performed with success during 2022's summer. It showed good flight characteristics, either for motorized flight or pure soaring.

To date, the Sol.Ex. has a few hundreds of flying hours and has never been plugged anywhere !

« The travels and performances that you have achieved with the Sol.Ex. are the brilliant demonstration of your solution’s relevance. »

Camille Poirot – photoreporter

The ambition

Use this adventure as a tool to help us to move toward a desirable futur for us humans, our Planet, and all it inhabitants..

By using the travels made with the Sol.Ex. Next one ? a « round France tour of solutions » where each stop will be the opportunity to put on the limelight inspiring people and their ideas.

By developing the two seater version of the Sol.Ex. so that you can take part of the adventure, as pilot or as passenger.

Une patrouille aérienne au service de la Planète

By creating an entity owning several two seater solar gliders dedicated to the environmental cause and working just like a club. Hobbyist or professionnals, beginner or expert, everyone will be able to come and perform « zero impact » flights while completing the special missions of this quite particular aircrafts patrol :

Travel as pioneer

Do wide & historical expeditions with ecological and scientific thematics, just like the « round the France tour of solutions » about to be performed with the Sol.Ex.

Serve as experiment plaftform for

– science, at laboratories’s disposal, to complete programs onboard our aircrafts which fly in the low and mid layers of the atmosphere without generating inherent pollution.

– technics, for institutions and companies who are developing technologies aiming to reduce our impact on the environment.

Train

– solar glider pilots, for everyone’s pleasure. Just like in a classic club, new members will be able to learn to fly with instructors.

– students in aeronautics (mechanics, composite materials, electrics…)

… and transmit Wings for the Planet’s values to our students !

Serve as educational platform

Around themes that our flights and expeditions can illustrate : mobility, energies, green technologies, adapation to what the nature can offer…

Call out, increase everyone’s commitment

By using all lever at our disposal to gather citizens : social networks, mediatic shows, events, documentary movies…

The Team

This project is initiated by Jean-Baptiste Loiselet

Graduate engineer, Jean-Baptiste – alias « Baptistou » always preferred great outdoors than offices. Passionate for travels, he did various adventures : northern Atlantic onboard tall ships, Kerguelen islands on a scientific mission, crossing the oceans piloting subsea robots, or even the Antarctic onboard a 12m sailship (movie : « On a Marché sur la Banquise« ). About 10 years ago, he discovers sailplanes and see a fantastic opportunity to fulfil his goal of « zero impact » travels – and illustrate answers to nowadays’s great questions. He creates hiw own company InnovaVis, which allows him to develop his new project. Wings for the Planet / Des Ailes pour la Planète was born !

More about his adventures on www.innovavis.com (in french)

They’ve been of great help :

Tit Benj

Multi-skilled handyman

Used to fancy projects (he built his own surfboard in the jungle with a knife as only tool), Tit Benj came to help to build the wings templates which allowed to build the solar panels molds.

Romain

Composites

Student in composite materials, Romain came to test his theoretical knowledges during an internship. His topic : build the solar panels of the Sol.Ex.
His constant good mood is a significant point in the Sol.Ex.’s success.

Camille

Clockmaker

After traveling almost everywhere in the world, Camille came to discover gliding in the Alps. But she also spent hours sanding the wings templates so that the solar panels would be perfectly shining !
And yes, she really is a clockmaker.

Kayla

Passionate

Her face looks weird, but that’s only when the glider makes a strong turn and the horizon is at the wrong position. Kayla helps from time to time to install the stand at exhibitions, and explain the project to the public.

Nina

Ceramist

In life she is a ceramist. But she also travels around the world on sailships, on her own or on other’s. And come to glue solar panels on wings from time to time !