Solar Impulse electric plane completes first intercontinental flight

A single-seat solar-powered plane has successfully completed a flight from Switzerland to Morocco – the first inter-continental trip recorded by a solar-powered aircraft.

Highly efficient electric motors and batteries allowed pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg to keep the four-engine Solar Impulse aircraft aloft throughout the hours of darkness during the flight. The journey was completed in two legs. The first, from Switzerland to Madrid took 17 hours. After a change of pilot, the aircraft spent a further 19 hours in the air before landing in Morocco.

Piccard is a Swiss adventurer who made history in 1999 by flying around the world non-stop in a balloon. He plans to fly Solar Impulse across the Atlantic in 2014.

The Solar Impulse has a wing span of 61m, which is comparable with a commercial airliner, but at 1,500kg the solar-powered plane weighs the same as a family car.

The pioneering flight follows seven years of research and development and takes the Solar Impulse team one step closer towards its goal of a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Low-emissions flight remains in its infancy, but Solar Impulse flight has marked another important milestone in aviation history.”