Solar-powered plane completes 24-hour test flight

AN experimental solar-powered plane completed its first 24-hour test flight successfully yesterday, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.

The test brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.

Pilot Andre Borschberg eased the Solar Impulse out of the clear blue morning sky onto the runway at Payerne airfield about 50km south-west of the Swiss capital, Bern, at exactly 9am.