Solar Impulse II Makes California

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Solar-Impulse-II-Makes-California-226128-1.html
Solar Impulse II Makes California

Solar Impulse II completed a 56-hour leg from Hawaii to Mountain View,
California just before midnight local time on Saturday. The aircraft, which had
to undergo a refit in Hawaii after the epic leg from Japan wrecked its
batteries, reportedly performed flawlessly on the trip, which ended with a
dramatic entrance over the Golden Gate Bridge on the way to Mountain View just
south of San Francisco. "WOW. A normal day as an explorer," the organization
tweeted as it sent out an iconic photo of the aircraft over the bridge shot
from a chase aircraft with founder Bertrand Piccard at the controls.

"It's a new era. It's not science fiction. It's today," Piccard told CNN from
California after landing. "It exists and clean technologies can do the
impossible." A big window of benign weather, rare for the North Pacific, helped
the effort and the landing was under clear skies. The Mountain View landing was
a diversion from the scheduled U.S. arrival point of Phoenix and it's not clear
what route the aircraft will take as it crosses the U.S. It has a major
challenge ahead with a northern Atlantic crossing on its way to finishing the
circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi. Video: https://youtu.be/wQCOfuwG6ss.