Solar Impulse lands at Sardar Patel airport in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad

Solar Impulse, claimed to be the world’s only solar-powered aircraft on world journey, arrived at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad at 11.25 pm.

The plane arrived in Ahmedabad sky at around 10.30 pm but couldn’t land immediately due to unfavorable wind conditions above 5-8 knots on its nose at runway access. It could land only at 11.25 after flying too much in Ahmedabad sky.

Lot of people in Ahmedabad came out of their homes to have a glimpse of Solar Impulse which was visible in sky due to its low height flying and multiple lights on wings.

Solar Impulse took off at 6.35am (02:35UTC) on the second flight from Muscat (Muscat International Airport, MCT/OOMS) in the Sultanate of Oman, to Ahmedabad. Pilot Bertrand Piccard flew the zero-fuel airplane across 1465km (791NM) for an originally estimated time of 16 hours.

After making a landing here, the solar-powered aircraft’s founders and pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andr Borschberg are likely to stay in the city for two-three days before leaving for Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

The Swiss solar-powered aircraft’s flight got delayed by a day due to bad weather conditions in the UAE. The aircraft was scheduled to land in Ahmedabad yesterday.

Piccard and Borschberg, during their stay in the city, will reach out to the government, NGOs, universities and schools to spread the message of clean technologies.