ABU DHABI // After a 16-hour-flight, Solar Impulse 2 landed in Phoenix, Arizona, at around 8am UAE time on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people gathered at Phoenix Goodyear Airport to witness the solar-powered plane’s arrival after it flew more than 720 miles from California on Monday.
On his way to Phoenix, the mission’s Swiss co-founder, Andre Borschberg, flew over areas where pioneering work is being developed, according to a statement on the Solar Impulse website, including the SpaceX airbase..
“Solar Impulse lands in one of the states with the highest penetration of solar energy,” it read. “A solar state welcoming a futuristic airplane.”
The team wants to eventually reach New York before crossing the Atlantic into Europe, and returning to Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March last year.
The aircraft landed in Hawaii last July, but was grounded for nine months after suffering critical heat-related damage to its batteries during the previous stage of its flight.
That segment of the journey involved a historic five-day, 7,200-kilometre journey from Nagoya, Japan.
The team resumed the mission on April 21, when co-pilot and co-founder Bertrand Piccard took off for California after repairs and test flights were completed.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
