The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft flies over the Statue of Liberty before landing at JFK airport June 11, 2016 in New York
The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft has ended its US portion of its bid to circle the globe using only solar power. “It’s absolutely incredible,” Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg said. “It’s a dream here.” The light, slow-moving aircraft later landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport, completing the 5h flight from Lehigh Valley Airport in Pennsylvania, 1 minute ahead of schedule at 3:59 am (0759 GMT).
It was the 14th leg of an east-west journey that began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, and has taken the aircraft across Asia and the Pacific to the US. From NY the Solar Impulse team will attempt to cross the Atlantic to Europe and on to the Middle East. Borschberg has alternated with fellow Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard, a doctor who made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999. Their goal is to be the first to circumnavigate the Earth with the sun as their aircraft’s only source of power.
Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, is on the 14th leg of an east-west journey that began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi and has taken the aircraft across Asia and the Pacific to the United States
The single-seat aircraft, which has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, is clad in 17,000 solar cells. During night flights like the one from Pennsylvania to New York, it runs on battery-stored power. It typically travels at a mere 30 miles per hour, although its flight speed can double when exposed to full sunlight. Borschberg skimmed over Pennsylvania at an altitude of less than 3,000 feet ( descending to 1,500 feet as the plane crossed over the bays at the entrance to New York harbor).
Solar Impulse 2 Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard (R) and André Borschberg pictured in Tulsa in May
The Swiss businessman was at the controls of Solar Impulse 2 on its most difficult segment of the trip, a 4,000-mile, 118-hour endurance run from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii. High tropical temperatures damaged the plane’s batteries, forcing its crew to take several months off to make repairs. Borschberg is no stranger to adventure—15 years ago he narrowly escaped an avalanche, and in 2013 he survived a helicopter crash with just minor injuries.
http://phys.org/news/2016-06-sun-powered-solar-impulse-aircraft-statue.htmljCp
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