A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
Swiss adventurer Andre Borschberg is achieving steady progress as he tries to complete the first solar-powered flight across the Pacific Ocean. After leaving Nagoya, Japan, early on Monday (local time), he has now passed Midway Island and is heading towards his destination of Kalaeloa, Hawaii. At 76 hours into the journey, he broke the record for the longest ever non-stop solo flight without refuelling. The previous mark was set by the American Steve Fossett in 2006. His jet-powered Virgin GlobalFlyer vehicle completed a full circumnavigation of the world in that time, travelling more than 41,000km.
Precisely when this historic landing will occur is somewhat uncertain. Solar Impulse has some quite strict constraints to ensure the 72m-wingspan vehicle can put its wheels down safely. These include a maximum cross wind of no more than four knots and a maximum overall wind speed of no more than 10 knots. If it is too windy at ground level, Mr Borschberg will be instructed to circle overhead until the conditions calm down.
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