NEW YORK (AFP) – The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft flew by the Statue of Liberty early Saturday, ending the US portion of its bid to circle the globe using only solar power.
“It’s absolutely incredible,” Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg said over a live video feed as the iconic statue lit up the night below him. “It’s a dream here.”
The light, slow-moving aircraft later landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport, completing the five hour flight from Lehigh Valley Airport in Pennsylvania.
Cameras in a boat in New York harbor captured the innovative solar powered aircraft as it flew over the Verrazano Bridge and headed toward the towering Lady Liberty.
It circled the statue and cruised along the Manhattan skyline before turning back south for the landing at Kennedy, one minute ahead of schedule at 3.59 am (0759 GMT).
File photo shows the Solar Impulse 2 landing at Tulsa International Airport – AFP
Ending the US crossing at the Statue of Liberty “is a very strong moment for me”, said Borschberg as he approached New York, calling it a “symbol of the freedom of enterprise, the freedom to innovate.”
It was the 14th leg of an east-west journey that began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, and has taken the aircraft across Asia and the Pacific to the United States.
From New York the Solar Impulse team will attempt to cross the Atlantic to Europe and on to the Middle East.
Borschberg has alternated with fellow Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard, a doctor who made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999.
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