Solar Impulse 2 takes off for round-the-world flight — in pictures

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  Solar Impulse 2 crew members prepare for take-off.

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  Media and guests await the Solar Impulse 2 take-off.

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  Solar Impulse founder André Borschberg was at the controls of the single-seater when it took off from the Al Bateen Executive Airport.

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  Mr Borschberg will trade off piloting with Solar Impulse co-founder Bertrand Piccard during the 12 stopovers on a journey that will take months to complete.

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  The plane is expected to reach its first destination — Muscat, Oman — after about 10 hours of flight.

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  Some legs of the trip, such as over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, will mean five or six straight days of flying solo.

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  The lightweight Solar Impulse 2, a larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew five years ago, is made of carbon fibre and has 17,248 solar cells built into the wing that supply the plane with renewable energy.

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  The plane has a 72-meter wingspan, larger than that of the Boeing 747, but weighs about as much as a car at around 2,300 kilograms.

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  The plane in June made an inaugural flight of two hours and 17 minutes above western Switzerland, just two months after it was unveiled.

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  After Oman, the plane will head to India, where it will make two stops, then to China and Myanmar before heading across the Pacific and stopping in Hawaii.

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  Then it will head to Phoenix, Arizona, and New York. The path across the Atlantic will depend on the weather and could include a stop in southern Europe or Morocco before coming back to Abu Dhabi.

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  The UAE-based Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government’s clean-energy company, is a key sponsor of the flight. Additional sponsors include Omega, Google and Moet Hennessey, among others. Marwan Maamani / AFP Photo

A Swiss solar-powered plane took off from Abu Dhabi early Monday, marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel. All photos by Christopher Pike / The National unless specified