Solar Powered Plane Soars Over Golden Gate Today

From Bay City News Service

A solar-powered plane with a unique look took off from Moffett Airfield in Mountain View this morning, and is passing over the Golden Gate Bridge and off the coast of San Francisco all this afternoon.

The lightweight plane, which has a wingspan of 208 feet, will be about 3,000 feet in the air as it flies above the bridge sometime between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., said Alexandra Gindroz, spokeswoman for the Swiss firm Solar Impulse, which owns the plane.

"It's quite high but you should be able to see something up there," Gindroz said.

Although it's day-long flight path is not announced, real-time tracking can bef found on the Solar Impluse website at www.solarimpulse.com.

Another scheduled pass over the Bay Area takes place this afternoon. "We'll pass by the Bay Bridge between 7 and 8 (p.m.)."

The plane, which weighs only about 3,500 pounds, runs completely on power from the sun drawn from 12,000 solar cells on the craft that send energy into batteries that power propellers running on four electric motors. The plane was created by pilot Andre Borschberg in Payerne, Switzerland,

Today's flight is a technical test run to prepare for a planned cross-country trip beginning in early May. On the first leg of that trip, the plane will depart from the Bay Area and head to Phoenix, Gindroz said. The flight path will take it on to Dallas, Atlanta and finally to New York in early July.

But the test run is also about something more, Gindroz said. "For us, it's really a message to fly over the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Area," she said. "It means that we are here and it's a landmark."

The company said on its website that the plane is intended in part to provoke conversations about renewable energy and to show that the technology exists to explore alternatives to traditional fuel.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA, which is light and sensitive to the winds, will land late tonight back at Moffett during a time when only light winds are in the forecast, Gindroz said.

The plane reaches a top speed of 43 mph and holds the record for altitude for solar-powered planes at 30,300 feet, according to the company's website. Solar Impulse is planning an even longer around-the-globe flight in 2015, according to the website.

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