Swiss plane flies around the world using no petrol

SWISS BOFFINS have built plane that has managed to fly without needing any petrol.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA took off from Payerne airfield and climbed up to 1,200 meters entirely under solar power.

For 87 minutes Solar Impulse test pilot Markus Scherdel familiarised himself with the prototype's flight behaviour and performing initial flight exercises before making the first landing on the Vaudois tarmac.

He said later that the first flight was a very intense moment, well 87 moments we guess. The HB-SIA behaved just as the flight simulator said it would, he said.

The plane has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 and is very light. Boffins were unsure about how it would fly. They want to get it to a point where it will fly around the world without petrol.

André Borschberg, CEO and co-founder of the project said that development had a long way to go before he would fly at night and an even longer way before flying round the world.

Solar Impulse chairman and initiator Bertrand Piccard said that the world's future depends on our ability to convert rapidly to the use of renewable energies.

Solar Impulse is intended to demonstrate what can be done already today by using renewable energy and applying new technologies that can save natural resources.

Of course saving the amount of carbon that has gone into making the plane might take some off-setting for a while. µ