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Solar-powered aircraft lands in Cairo after Pyramids flyover

Xinhua, July 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

After flying over the landmark Giza Pyramids, the solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 landed at Cairo Wednesday after a 51-hour flight from Spain, with only one leg ahead to complete its round-the-world tour.

The aircraft, piloted by Swiss aviator Andre Borschbergm, took off from Spain's Seville International Airport on Monday and landed Wednesday morning at Cairo International Airport.

The plane will remain at the airport runway for 15 days, Egypt's official news agency MENA said.

Another Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard will then fly the plane to Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, the final leg of it's trip around the world, which began in March 2015.

The aircraft had been in Seville for two weeks after successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean in three days.

In June 2015, Borschbergm had piloted the plane from Nagoya to Honolulu in a-118-hour non-stop flight, breaking three world records, the longest distance of non-stop flying, the longest solo flight and the longest solar-powered flight without any fuel.

The journey means to encourage people to promote clean and renewable energies.

Solar Impulse 2 has a wingspan of 72 meters, 12 meters longer than that of Boeing 747, but weighs only 2.3 ton. Equipped with 17,248 solar cells, the zero-fuel plane runs on stored energy at night. Endit