SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A solar-powered airplane reached the San Francisco Bay area and performed a fly-by over the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday afternoon following 56 hours of flight over the Pacific Ocean as part of its journey around the world.
“I crossed the bridge. I am officially in America,” pilot Bertrand Piccard declared as he flew over the iconic span as spectators watched the narrow aircraft with extra wide wings from below.
The aircraft was expected to loiter aloft until about midnight, when winds were to decrease for its landing at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, Calif.
Piccard said stopping in Silicon Valley, where the airfield is, will help link the daring project to the pioneering spirit of the area.
“Can you imagine crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on a solar-powered plane just like ships did in past centuries? But the plane doesn’t make noise and doesn’t pollute,” Piccard said in a live video feed on the website documenting the journey.
The aircraft started its around-the-world journey in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan. It’s on the ninth leg of its circumnavigation.
The trans-Pacific leg of the journey was the riskiest part of the global flight because of the lack of emergency landing sites.
After uncertainty about winds, the plane took off from Hawaii on Thursday morning. At one point, passengers on a Hawaiian Air jet caught a glimpse of the Solar Impulse 2 before the airliner sped past the slow-moving aircraft.
The Solar Impulse 2 landed in Hawaii in July and was forced to stay in the islands after the plane’s battery system sustained heat damage on its trip from Japan.
Piccard’s co-pilot Andre Borschberg flew the leg from Japan to Hawaii. He was aboard a helicopter to welcome Piccard as he approached the Bay Area.
The team was delayed in Asia, as well. When first attempting to fly from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii, the crew had to divert to Japan because of unfavorable weather and a damaged wing.
The plane’s ideal flight speed is about 28 mph, though that can double during the day when the sun’s rays are strongest. The carbon-fiber aircraft weighs more than 5,000 pounds.
The wings of Solar Impulse 2, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries. The plane runs on stored energy at night.
