Solar Impulse 2 left Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania late Friday evening. Its destination: New York City. After a flight of just over four and a half hours, pilot André Borschberg circled around the Statue of Liberty before landing on Saturday morning at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“We received very positive and heart-warming responses during our journey through the United States because it’s a country of pioneers and explorers,” said Bertrand Piccard in a statement. The honorary president of the business association swisscleantech took turns at the controls of Solar Impulse 2 with Borschberg to cover the six legs of the US crossing.
“It’s amazing to see to what extent people understand not only what we do, but also why we do it: to show that if we all used the same clean technologies as Solar Impulse on the ground we could create jobs, enhance profits and boost economic growth, while also protecting the environment.”
Piccard and Borschberg want to highlight the potential of clean technologies with their historic round-the-world flight. More than 20,000 people have visited the airplane over the six weeks it has been in the US.
The team will soon attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean to either Europe or North Africa, before ending in Abu Dhabi where the adventure started in March 2015.