More Aviation
The BBC continues coverage of the round the world flight:Solar Impulse plane leaves Myanmar for China
Solar Impulse, the fuel-free aeroplane, is up in the air again on the fifth leg of its round-the-world flight.
The vehicle, with Bertrand Piccard at the controls, left Mandalay in Myanmar (Burma) just after 21:00 GMT on Sunday, and is heading for Chongqing in China.
The intention is to make a brief stop there, and then try to reach Nanjing on the east coast of the country.
This would set up Solar Impulse for the first of its big ocean crossings – a five-day, five-night flight to Hawaii.
They are stopping to allow the Li-ion batteries to fully charge from the sun and to permit some real rest for the pilot.
The aircraft is actually Solar Impulse 2. Solar Impulse 1 was flown to prove the concept of flying all day and night in a solar powered aircraft. The modifications that resulted in model 2 are improvements based on testing of the original.
