Solar plane completed a flight across the U.S. - BBC Russian

Solar Impulse was on the road for over a month – it does not exceed the speed of 70 km / h, and he avoided the strong winds and brisk lines

aircraft Solar Impulse, driven by the energy of the sun, has completed the final stage of its flight over the territory of the United States, landing at New York’s Kennedy Airport.

At the last stage of the journey the plane flew from Washington at 04:56 local time (8:56 GMT) on Saturday. In New York, he sat down at 23:15 (3:15 GMT on Sunday).

Spectacular flight past the Statue of Liberty had to cancel a 2.5-meter gap tissue of the left wing.

Solar Impulse flight from the west to the east of the North American continent began in early May. The maximum speed of the ship reached 70 miles per hour.

On the way solar plane made stops in Phoenix (Arizona), Dallas (Texas) and St. Louis (Missouri).

According to the authorities, the damage to the wing did not represent a threat to the aircraft and its pilots.

Solar Impulse HB-SIA has the same wingspan as the Airbus A340, but only weighs 1.6 tons. For comparison, a fully loaded “airbus” weighs 370 tons.

In

wings and stabilizer Solar Impulse solar cells encased 12 thousand that drive four screws and recharges the 400-pound lithium-ion batteries that provide the energy plane at night.

Swiss Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard followed each other in a single pilot’s seat. Each leg of the journey was designed so as to not go more than a day.

For this reason, in one of the segments had at the last moment to change the route and fly through Cincinnati. The crew of an experimental aircraft sought to avoid areas with strong winds and heavy air traffic.

“In the States, it is difficult to find these” weather window “- especially in the latter case.’s so much we had to arrange to integrate experimental aircraft Solar Impulse loaded into the airway in the world, it was very difficult to fly from Washington DC to JFK” – Borschberg said in an interview with BBC BBC.

Piccard and Borschberg plan to build a larger, two-seat aircraft HB-SIB, and by the spring of 2015 to fly him around the Earth.

Borschberg acknowledged that it would be “many times more complex than what we’ve done here in the U.S.”.

“To work in a country with one language, of course, is easier than on different continents, taking into account all the logistics,” – he added.

existing prototype HB-SIA in 2012 made an intercontinental flight. He holds the record for the duration of manned solar aircraft – 26 hours.

When flight over America Solar Impulse has also established distance record in its category.

Piccard and Borschberg are campaigning for the introduction of sustainable energy technologies.

In Washington, the pilots welcomed U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. “If you look at the research programs and technological concepts of the Ministry of Energy, that they contain the same technological advances that these two gentlemen have integrated into a single system and have ensured that a few years ago seemed impossible,” – he said.