The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft completed a historic flight in its quest to circle the globe without consuming a drop of fuel, touching down gracefully in Hawaii on July 3- Mission organizers described the journey as having taken "pilot and aircraft to the limits" of their endurance
- Traveling at altitudes of more than 9,000 meters (29,500 feet), Borschberg at times had to use oxygen tanks to breathe and experienced huge swings in temperature throughout
- Borschberg easily beat the previous longest solo endurance flight, by Steve Fossett, who flew for 76 hours and 45 minutes in 2006 in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
- The 4,000-mile leg (6,500 kilometers) from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii was not only the world's longest solar-powered flight both in terms of flying time and distance, it also set the record for longest solo flight by time
- Sunlight glimmered on the horizon as the Solar Impulse ground crew burst into cheers and applause upon completion of the groundbreaking flight
- The sun-powered plane, piloted by veteran Swiss aviator Andre Borschberg, took 118 hours — about five days — to make the voyage from Japan to Hawaii and landed shortly after dawn at Kalaeloa Airport on the main Hawaiian island of Oahu
- The experimental plane landed a little after 1600 GMT, and Borschberg, along with co-pilot Bertrand Piccard, all smiles, emerged a short time later from the cockpit, later adorning a traditional Hawaiian flower lei and holding a celebratory bottle
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
.jpg "A historic moment for Solar Impulse 2")
The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft completed a historic flight in its quest to circle the globe without consuming a drop of fuel, touching down gracefully in Hawaii on July 3
<p>The plane will now be flown across the United States and eventually, if all goes according to plan, land back in Abu Dhabi next March, where it started its journey earlier this year. The next leg will be piloted by Piccard and will fly 2,920 miles from Hawaii to Phoenix. Solar Impusle 2 has 17,000 solar cells and on-board rechargeable lithium batteries, allowing it to fly through the night. Its wingspan is longer than that of a jumbo jet but it weighs only 2.3 tonnes — about the same as a car</p><p>(Photo Credits: AP)</p>
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