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...
Pilot Bertrand Piccard brought the plane in from Phoenix, Arizona, in a flight that lasted just over 18 hours. The zero-fuel aircraft has now reached halfway across America, with its immediate goal of getting to New York firmly in sight. The Swiss team wants to be on the East Coast at the start of June to begin planning the big Atlantic crossing. To complete its circumnavigation of the globe, the solar-powered aeroplane needs to get to Abu Dhabi, UAE. That is where the adventure got under way in March last year.
As well as setting new aviation milestones, the stated purpose of the project is to demonstrate the capability of clean technologies.
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