A Swiss pilot has made the world’s first intercontinental journey by solar-powered plane.
Bertrand Piccard, 54, took off from Madrid in Solar Impulse, which looks like a vast eagle. It has the wingspan of an Airbus A340, is as light as a family car and has 12,000 solar cells powering four motors. The carbon-fibre aircraft climbed to 18,000ft (5,500m) and headed south at about 28mph (44km/h). The flight qualifies as intercontinental because it flew into Moroccan airspace.
The solar panels embedded in the surfaces of the carbon-fibre plane charge 400kg of lithium polymer batteries during the day, allowing the aircraft to carry on flying at night.
Mr Piccard made the world’s first non-stop, round-the-world balloon flight in 1999 with Brian Jones, from Britain.