Solar-powered plane finishes flight over Pacific
Solar Impulse 2 lands at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., after crossing the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Noah Berger/Associated Press)
Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard, left, and Andre Borschberg celebrate after Piccard landed their solar-powered plane at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Noah Berger/Associated Press)
Solar Impulse 2 flies over San Francisco on Saturday, April 23, 2016. (Noah Berger/Associated Press)
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — That wasn’t just any plane on a fly-by over the Golden Gate Bridge.
As spectators watched the thin solar-powered aircraft with extra wide wings, it was nearing the end of the trans-Pacific leg of its around-the-world sojourn.
The global journey of Solar Impulse 2 began in Abu Dhabi in March 2015. It faced delays along the way, before attempting the most dangerous part of its sojourn: the flight over the Pacific Ocean’s vast expanses, where there are few places to make an emergency landing.
Pilot Bertrand Piccard made the 62-hour, nonstop solo flight without fuel. Now three more stops in the United States remain.
The plane will then attempt to traverse the Atlantic Ocean on the last leg of its trip.
