1stLD-Writethru Solar plane Si2 lands in India

A solar powered aircraft, Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) which is on a global flight, landed in the western Indian city of Ahmadabad before Tuesday night, said TV channel NDTV.

TV footage showed the plane landing at the airport, to the applause of its Indian hosts.

Some of the materials of the plane is came from Ahmadabad, making it the reason for choosing the city as its first stop in India, said the report. The plane will fly to Varanasi, a holy Hindu city in northern India.

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, 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 at 2,300kg, which as the same level as a family car.

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