Solar Impulse 2 lands in Mandalay

Swiss pilots Andre Boschberg, left and Bertrand Piccard have completed four legs of their round-the-world flight without using a drop of fuel. Ajit Solanki / AP Photo

The solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 plane has landed in Mandalay in Myanmar after a 13-hour flight from Varanasi in northern India, completing the fourth leg of its round-the-world flight attempt.

Bertrand Piccard, co-founder and pilot of the solar-powered aircraft, announced the arrival on his Twitter shortly after 6pm UAE time. He called Myanmar’s welcome “an immense pleasure”.

The crew had been warned of “difficult crosswinds” due to the meeting of the jet streams south of the Himalayas.

Before taking off from India with co-pilot Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg, Dr Piccard had tweeted: “Ready to fly above one the most beautiful landscapes in the world,” and “Mission mode on: now is time to focus for the flight ahead.”

During their India stay in the cities of Ahmedabad and Varanasi, the pilots and their team reached out to universities, schools, the government and non-government organisations to raise awareness about renewable energy.

Emphasising the core theme of their round-the-world journey, Dr Piccard said it “demonstrated that the future can be clean.”

The Solar Impulse 2, powered by 17,000 solar cells built into the wings, took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9 marking the historic first phase of the journey from the UAE capital to Muscat that night and then on to Ahmedabad in India the next day.

The 150-strong mission team is involved in preparing the route and maintaining the revolutionary carbon-fibre aircraft that can fly at night after solar cells charge the lithium batteries during the day.

The fifth leg will take the pilots from Mandalay to Chongqing in China.

The crew aim to return to Abu Dhabi by late July or early August. After crossing the Atlantic, the final legs will include a stopover in southern Europe or North Africa.

Apart from intensive technical training, the pilots have also prepared for the intense, exhausting journey with yoga and meditation to stay focused and alert.

The entire plane was disassembled in Switzerland in November last year and shipped to Abu Dhabi in January.

The Masdar-backed campaign aims to encourage pioneering technology, contribute to innovations in renewable energy and improve the quality of life with a voyage around the world without pollution or fuel.

Updates, details on take-off and landings, and in-flight coverage can be seen on the Solar Impulse website