I assume it will run like clockwork, right?
"With the engines providing only 40 horsepower, the plane will fly almost like a moped in the sky"
That's, uh, going to take a while to come back around, isn't it?
See ya!
"Swiss test solar plane; hope soon to circle globe" by Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press | April 8, 2010
PAYERNE, Switzerland — At a military airport in the Swiss countryside, the plane lifted off at a speed no faster than 28 miles per hour after only a short acceleration on the runway. It slowly gained altitude above the green and beige fields, and disappeared eventually into the horizon as villagers watched from the nearest hills.
Another drone in the air?
The descent was even slower, as the sun-powered craft hovered ahead of the runway for a couple of minutes before touching down to cheers from spectators....
With the engines providing only 40 horsepower, the plane will fly almost like a moped in the sky....
Better travel in the breakdown lane.
--more--"
A solar prototype airplane, following six years of work by 50 engineers and technicians and led by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, took its first flight in front of the Swiss Alps yesterday. (Christian Hartmann/Reuters)
Yeah, I guess we are still going to need the big jet planes, 'eh, readers?
Thing looks like one of Saddam's UAV drones that held just a video camera, doesn't it?
They say it has the wing span of a 747; I wonder if it crumples as easily as the one that folded up and disintegrated in that hole at the Pentagon on 9/11.
