The Solar Impulse touched down at JFK International Airport after a historic two-month journey.
The first-ever manned planed that can fly by
day or night on solar power has finished the final leg of a historic US
cross-country journey.
Solar
Impulse touched down at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport at
11.09pm on Saturday after leaving California in early May.
The
plane has previously flown from Europe to Africa, but its creators said this
was the first successful cross-continent flight.
The
flight plan for the revolutionary plane, powered by some 11,000 solar cells,
had called for it to pass the Statue of Liberty before landing early Sunday at
New York.
But
an unexpected eight-foot tear discovered on the left wing of the aircraft on
Saturday afternoon forced officials to scuttle the fly-by and proceed directly
to JFK for a landing three hours earlier than scheduled.
Pilot
Andre Borschberg said: "It was a huge success for renewable energy. The
only thing that failed was a piece of fabric."
"It
was supposed to be the shortest and easiest leg. It was the most difficult
one," said Bertrand Piccard, one of the two pilots.
The
aircraft soars to 30,000 feet and can reach a top speed of 45mph.
Most
of the 11,000 solar cells are on the super-long wings that seem to stretch as
far as a jumbo jet's.
It
weighs about the size of a small car and soars with what is essentially the
power of a small motorised scooter.
The
Solar Impulse has made stopovers in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, St Louis,
Cincinnati and Dulles during its two-month journey.
The
cross-country flight is a rehearsal for a planned 2015 flight around the globe
with an upgraded version of the plane.
Solar
Impulse's creators view themselves as green pioneers, promoting lighter
materials, solar-powered batteries, and conservation as adventurous.
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