Solar plane Solar Impulse 2 lands in New York

The solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2 has successfully landed in New York. This brings the goal of flying around the earth in an airplane one step closer. The next leg goes to Europe.

In a blog post, the team behind the Solar Impulse 2 announced that the solar plane with pilot André Borschberg successfully landed in New York on Saturday morning, after a flight of about five hours from Pennsylvania that included flying over the Statue of Liberty. With the landing in New York, the crossing of the United States, from west to east, has been successfully completed.

The next leg should take the Solar Impulse 2 across the Atlantic Ocean, landing somewhere in Europe. It is not yet known where exactly it will land, but this will be somewhere in Western Europe. According to the team behind the solar plane, the most favorable conditions for the flight are still being determined.

Solar Impulse 2 became best known after the trip from Japan to Hawaii, a record flight in both length and time. Incidentally, the plane was grounded for some time after that, because the batteries had overheated.