MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A solar-powered airplane on a mission to fly around the world landed in California, completing a risky, three-day flight across a great expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Pilot Bertrand Piccard landed the Solar Impulse 2 in Mountain View, in the Silicon Valley south of San Francisco, at 11:45 p.m. Saturday, after a 62-hour, nonstop solo flight from Hawaii without fuel. The plane taxied into a huge tent at Moffett Airfield where Piccard was greeted by the project’s team.
‘‘I was watching the reflection of the moon on the ocean and I was thinking ‘I’m completely alone in this tiny cockpit and I feel completely confident.’ And I was really thankful to life for bringing me this experience,’’ Piccard said at a news conference after landing.
‘‘It’s maybe this is one of the most fantastic experiences of life I’ve had,’’ he said.
The landing came hours after Piccard flew over the Golden Gate Bridge as spectators below watched the narrow aircraft with extra wide wings.
Piccard and fellow Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg have been taking turns flying the plane on an around-the-world trip since taking off from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in March 2015. It made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China, Japan, and Hawaii.
The trans-Pacific legs were the riskiest part of the plane’s travels because of the lack of emergency landing sites.
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. The team was delayed in Asia, too.
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 miles per hour, though that can double during the day when the sun’s rays are strongest. The carbon-fiber aircraft weighs over 5,000 pounds.
Solar Impulse 2 will make three more stops in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
