SOLAR-POWERED FLIGHT NEARS END OF PACIFIC LEG

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. That wasn’t just any plane on a flyby over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. As spectators watched, the thin solar-powered aircraft with extra wide wings neared the end of the trans-Pacific leg of its around-the-world sojourn.

The global journey of Solar Impulse 2 began in Abu Dhabi in March 2015. It faced delays along the way, before attempting the most dangerous part of its sojourn: the flight over the Pacific Ocean’s vast expanses, where there are few places to make an emergency landing.

Pilot Bertrand Piccard made the 62-hour, non-stop solo flight without fuel. Now three more stops in the United States remain.

The plane will then attempt to traverse the Atlantic Ocean on the last leg of its trip.