article_snippet: The journey was expected to take about 12 hours, but high winds of up to 11 knots delayed its landing, forcing Pilot Andre Borschberg to fly in a holding pattern above Muscat until they dropped to safe levels.
article_snippet: The potentially historic flight had originally been due to take off on March 1 but The potentially historic flight departure was postponed because of concerns about the weather after strong dust storms created hazy conditions.
article_snippet: We have had a lot of sandstorms in Abu Dhabi, and also a lot of wind, sea breezes, higher than the limit," said the team's meteorologist Luc Truellemans in an interview posted on Twitter and YouTube.
article_snippet: By Monday morning, the skies had cleared sufficiently for takeoff, though there was a slight delay while technical checks were carried out, as pilot Andre Borschberg explained on Twitter.
article_snippet: Monday's journey to Oman was a relatively short one, compared to some of the longer legs, which will take up to five or six days and nights.
article_snippet: The tiny cockpit will be packed with essentials for the journey -- enough food and water for a week -- as well as a parachute, life raft and oxygen bottles in case of emergencies.