The solar-powered plane “Solar Impulse 2’’, piloted by Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard, has landed at San Pablo airport in Seville, southern Spain.
Piccard said that the airplane powered solely by the sun landed safely in Seville, early on Thursday after an almost three-day flight across the Atlantic from New York.
“The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 touched down shortly after 7.30 a.m. local time in Seville after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 2.30 a.m.
Piccard said after landing, thanking his engineering crew for their efforts, “Oh-la-la, absolutely perfect.
The pilot described the flight as one of the longest legs of the first ever fuel-less flight around the world.
The flight of just over 71 hours was the 15th leg of the round-the-world journey by the plane piloted in turns by Swiss Aviators, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg.
Piccard explained that the plane with a cruising speed of around 70 kilometres an hour (43 miles per hour), similar to an average car.
He said the plane has more than 17, 0000 solar cells built in to wings with a span bigger than that of a Boeing 747. (Reuters/NAN)
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