This was the last flight for Borschberg after spending two summer seasons flying the Solar Impulse 2 around the world and completing the longest solo endurance flight, breaking Steve Fossett’s 2006 record.
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The trip began will end in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where it began in March 2015.
Before landing in Cairo, the plane passed through Algerian, Tunisian, Italian and Greek airspace, and also flew over the Giza pyramids.
Its support crew cheered as the plane, no heavier than a vehicle but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, landed, and trailed after it on bicycles. Andre Borschberg is one of the two pilots who says it has been a meaningful morning.
On Wednesday, July 13th André s legacy at Solar Impulse was solidified as he closed Solar Impulse’s penultimate flight of the round-the-world tour.
The 58-year-old had flown the plane across the Atlantic in a 6,765 kilometer (4,200 mile) journey. The plane stores energy during the day to run on at night. “It’s a new era for energy”.
“You look at the sun, you look at your motors, they turn for days and for days, no fuel”. That’s magic. It is actually the reality of today. “It’s to show what we can do with clean technologies”.
The experimental aircraft took off from Seville for a flight that should last about 50 hours and will take it over the Mediterranean Sea.
Borschberg piloted the plane across the Pacific Ocean, from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii; a 118-hour endeavor.
Before taking off, Borschberg appeared before the media at the foot of the plane to express his hopes to continue “without disappointing the world because we can not disappoint everyone who sees us and follows us”, referring to both the global press and the thousands of people following the mission on social networks.
“We have to work through corridors – we have to go around areas where the [air] traffic is intense”, he told FoxNews.com. “That was the first time that we had the airplane fly for such a duration … the intensity of emotion was extremely strong”.
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Since the solar-powered plane left Abu Dhabi in 2015, Masdar has rolled out four projects in the country, including 30 megawatts of utility-scale solar power, and installed 7,000 solar home systems that are helping to electrify rural communities. “The memory of flying over [the solar power plant] was very strong”, said Borschberg.
