Solar Impulse Announces Flight Across America For 2013

cylonlover writes "Flush with success from their 6,000-km (3,728-mile) Europe-to-Africa round-trip flight earlier this year, the duo behind the Solar Impulse solar-powered aircraft are now planning on flying it across America next spring. It will mark the first time that a solar-powered plane has traversed the country. Solar Impulse partners Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg made the official announcement this Tuesday, although the logistics of the flight have yet to be finalized. They have stated that the trip will be broken into 20-hour legs, starting at San Francisco and proceeding to New York City. As with their previous multi-leg flights, the two pilots will take turns flying the aircraft." You can read about it straight from the doers, too.

Re:How cheap?

[WWJohnBrowningDo]

Solar planes aren't ideal for carrying cargo due to their low wing loading. This prototype can only carry 400kg of cargo for example.

They're perfect for surveillance, meteorology, and surveying, but they're terrible for moving large amounts of cargo very quickly.

Not the best energy source for an aircraft

[Anonymous Coward]

Wind or geothermal would be much better.