Solar Powered Plane Is Ready To Fly Around The World

 In the United Arab Emirates a solar powered plane made a third successful flight test and planned to promote solar power energy worldwide through the world tour.The flight test was one hour long from the UAE capital Abu Dhabi's small Al-Bateen airport and tested by two Swiss pilots Piccard and Andre Borschberg.Mission Chiefs said, "The pilot reported no problems."

"Hopefully next weekend, if the weather is good, we will be in the air going 35,000 kilometres (21,748 miles) to the east until we come back here," Piccard told AFP.

The plane has more than 17,000 solar cells install on its wings and wings are 72 metres long as an Airbus A380 superjumbo.It is made by light weight carbon fibre that weighs about 2.3 tonnes, approximately equal to a family 4X4 or 1% less than the weight of the A380.

The two Swiss pilots aim to demonstrate that "clean technology and renewable energy can achieve the impossible," Piccard said.

The plane will start the world tour from Abu Dhabi to Muscat then fly to Oman before crossing the Arabian Sea to India.Then it will fly to Myanmar, China, Hawaii and New York respectively.The pilot will be connected to a control centre in Monaco and landings are depending on weather conditions.The plane can go at speeds of 50 to 100 kilometres per hour, the slower speeds will be accepted at night to save the batteries from draining to quickly.The plane will arrive back in Abu Dhabi in July.

Share this on your favourite network

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Pinterest
• StumbleUpon
• Delicious
• LinkedIn
• Reddit
• Technorati