Ahmedabad: The world's only solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2, which landed in Ahmedabad on Tuesday night is likely to stay in the city for two-three days before leaving for Varanasi.
The aircraft is on an around-the-world journey and would fly without a drop of fuel as it is propelled solely by solar energy. The aircraft will fly to Myanmar, China, the US and will return to Abu Dhabi.
Pilot Andre Borschberg said, "Ahmedabad is right destination for us as required technology is here. We have technology which has been developed and produced in Gujarat."
Another pilot and SI-2 co-founder Bertrand Piccard added, "It is fantastic to have a plane that can fly continuously without fuel. We should use this technology to save energy."
The aircraft hovered in the sky over Ahmedabad for more than 30 minutes before it landed at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel International Airport here at 11.25 PM, fifteen hours after it took off from Muscat on Tuesday morning.
The aircraft is also likely to hover above Ganga river in Varanasi to spread the message of cleanliness and clean energy, an official associated with the project said.
Solar Impulse is claimed to be the first aircraft to fly day and night without a drop of fuel, propelled solely by the sun's energy. The single-seater aircraft, made of carbon fibre, has a 72 meter wingspan, larger than that of Boeing-747 and weighs only 2,300 kg.
The 17,248 solar cells on the wing recharge four lithium polymer batteries weighing 633 kg each, which allow the aircraft to fly at night.
It reached Muscat yesterday. It took nearly 13 hours to reach Muscat from Abu Dhabi.
From Varanasi it will fly to Mandalay in Myanmar and Chongqing and Nanjing in China and thereon to USA.
(With additional information from PTI)
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