Solar plane team plans flight across Switzerland
GENEVA (AP) - A team of adventurers aiming to fly a solar-powered plane around the world by 2013 say they hope to take their prototype for a spin across Switzerland this weekend.
The group behind the Solar Impulse project has already demonstrated the plane can fly at night after completing a 26-hour nonstop test flight in July.
The team said Thursday that pilot Andre Borschberg now hopes to fly the delicate single-seater plane with the wingspan of a Boeing 777 passenger jet from its base in Payerne to the southwestern city of Geneva.
From there he will attempt to cross almost the entire country and land at an airport near the northeastern city of Zurich.
The team says weather conditions will decide whether the test flight takes place as planned.
The group behind the Solar Impulse project has already demonstrated the plane can fly at night after completing a 26-hour nonstop test flight in July.
The team said Thursday that pilot Andre Borschberg now hopes to fly the delicate single-seater plane with the wingspan of a Boeing 777 passenger jet from its base in Payerne to the southwestern city of Geneva.
From there he will attempt to cross almost the entire country and land at an airport near the northeastern city of Zurich.
The team says weather conditions will decide whether the test flight takes place as planned.