Solar Impulse 2 heads for India in longest flight to date

Solar Impulse 2 departs Muscat, Oman, on Tuesday en route to Ahmedabad, India, on the second leg of its epic journey. Jean Revillard / AFP

MUSCAT // Solar Impulse 2 completed the second – and longest – leg of its round-the-world flight on Tuesday when it landed in Ahmedabad, India.

After taking off from Muscat, Oman, in the morning, the plane, captained by Bertrand Piccard, landed in Gujarat at 11.25pm local time.

Although the pilots flew a longer leg in 2013 on their successful coast-to-coast flight in the US aboard the prototype, this was the first true test of the new plane’s capabilities.

“Congratulations to @bertrandpiccard from Mission Control in #Monaco,” the Solar Impulse team tweeted shortly after his arrival in India.

Solar Impulse 2 was built at the end of 2013, with upgrades that enable it to fly for days without stopping. After leaving Abu Dhabi on Monday, the aircraft arrived in Muscat about 13 hours later. The team was able to regroup and check the aircraft to determine its performance.

After a quick debriefing – and a cleaning of the solar panels, which need constant maintenance to improve sun retention – Mr Piccard took the helm for his turn flying the aircraft.

Yesterday, speaking while crossing the Arabian Sea, Mr Piccard said the endeavour was the best way to spread the message of clean energy.

“We hope that governments understand that this is the way to fight the problems of climate change,” said Mr Piccard.

“I look forward to India,” he said. “It will be a fantastic moment for us to meet the community in India and... spread our message in the universities.”

The plane arrived slightly behind schedule, after travelling more than 1,400 kilometres.

The team will spend four days on India’s west coast before flying cross-country towards Varanasi, next week.