Solar powered aircraft to land in India midnight on global flight

A solar powered aircraft, Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) which is on a global flight, has entered Indian airspace and is expected to land in the western Indian city of Ahmadabad before midnight Tuesday, officials said.

Powered only by the Sun's rays, the aircraft took off from Muscat in Oman on Monday and flew over Pakistan before entering Indian airspace over the Arabian Sea towards Gujarat state, an official of the Aditya Birla Group, which is hosting the flight here, told the media.

The plane is flying at a speed of around 60 kmph under different weather conditions.

The Si2 is the brainchild of Bertrand Piccard, a psychiatrist who flew around the world in a hot-air balloon in 1999, and former Swiss fighter pilot Andre Borschberg.

The single-seater aircraft is made of carbon fiber, with the 72- meter wingspan, larger than a Boeing 747 but weighing 2,300 kg, or as much as a family car.

Its 17,248 solar cells and four lithium batteries weigh 633 kg and supply the electric motors with enough renewable energy for a week-long flight at an altitude of 8,500 meters. Endi