Solar Impulse 2 successfully landed after nearly 16 hours of flying

Solar-powered aircraft named Solar Impulse 2, which is in the historical round-the-world journey, completing the tenth rounds of its flight, had landed in Arizona after flying nearly 16 hours from California on Tuesday, May 2, 2016.

According to the official site of Solar Impulse, the single-seat experimental aircraft arrived in Phoenix at 20:55 local time after a flying distance of 1,113 kilometers for a total of 15 hours and 55 minutes from San Francisco passed through the Mojave Desert.

Pilot Andre Borschberg lands the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 plane, late Monday, May 2, 2016, in Goodyear, Ariz. The plane left early Monday from California for a 16-hour trip to Phoenix to resume its journey around the world using only energy from the sun. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aAOnm)

With the conventional aircraft, the distance can be reached in two hours, but the Solar Impulse 2 that rely on solar energy takes much longer because it flew in the car's speed, making the pilot had to practice the meditation and hypnosis in order to stay awake for a long time.

One of the project founders, Andre Borschberg also flew in the small cockpit of the solar-powered aircraft. "I made it to Phoenix, what an amazing flight over the Mojave desert," Borschberg said in a Twitter post. As reported by Reuters, he alternates with his fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard at the controls for each segment of what they hope will be the first round-the-world solar-powered flight.

Pilots Andre Borschberg (L) and Bertrand Piccard react after landing Solar Impulse 2 on the San Francisco to Phoenix leg of what they hope will be the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, in Phoenix, Arizona, May 2, 2016. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aAOGb)

Previously, Borschberg piloting the aircraft on a flight from Japan to Hawaii through the Pacific in July last year, was in the air for nearly 118 hours.

The flying journey had a record-breaking the solo nonstop flying for 76 hours that set in 2006 by an American adventurer named Steve Fossett with Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer and set a new record for the time and distance of flight with a solar-powered plane.

The Swiss team who flew to garner support for clean energy technologies hoping to end their round-the-world journey in Abu Dhabi, where the journey started in March 2015. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | REUTERS]

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