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First solar powered transcontinental flight

Pilot completes first solar-powered transcontinental flight from Madrid to Rabat THE AUSTRALIAN, AP June 06, 2012 AN experimental solar-powered plane has landed in Morocco’s capital after a 20-hour trip from Madrid in the first transcontinental journey by a craft of its type.

With the wing span of a Boeing 777, the plane appeared out of the pitch darkness over the runway, suddenly turning on its lights and gliding to a landing in Rabat, its four propellers already still. “It was perhaps the most beautiful flight of my life,” said pilot
Bertrand Piccard, who has already circumnavigated the world by balloon.
“I have dreamed since I was a child of flying without using fuel.”

The single-seat aircraft is fitted with 12,000 solar cells across its immense wings and but only weighs just as much as the average family car, according to organisers.  The plane is the first of its kind to fly both during the night and day as the solar panels charge the batteries for night flying….. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pilot-completes-first-solar-powered-transcontinental-flight-from-madrid-to-rabat/story-e6frg6so-1226386003212

June 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, renewable