By Jessica Shankleman, Source: Business Green

A pioneering solar-powered plane has completed the final leg of its journey across the United States without using fuel, touching down at New York’s JFK Airport this weekend.

The Swiss-built Solar Impulse plane started its journey in early May from San Francisco, stopping at Phoenix, Dallas, St Louis and Washington DC before landing in New York at 11.09 ET (03:45 GMT) on Saturday.

The final leg began in Washington on Saturday morning just before 5am ET. But the shortest and supposedly simplest part of the journey ended up as the most difficult after the left wing developed a 2.5 metre tear.

Officials said that neither the pilot nor the 1.6 tonne plane were endangered by the tear, but it did force the pilot, Bertrand Piccard, to ditch plans for a Statue of Liberty fly-pass and land three hours earlier than planned at JFK.

The plane is covered by around 12,000 PV cells stretching along its 64 metre wings, which power its batteries and allow it to cruise at around 40mph during the day and night. It has already completed journeys across Europe and into Africa, as well as 26 hours of continuous flying, but the journey across the US was its longest expedition to date.

Piccard, who is also chairman of Solar Impulse, said the first plane to travel East to West across the States, day and night, on solar power alone, had set a new milestone in the development of aviation.

“Flying coast-to-coast has always been a mythical milestone full of challenges for aviation pioneers,” he said in a statement. “During this journey, we had to find solutions for a lot of unforeseen situations, which obliged us to develop new skills and strategies. In doing so, we also pushed the boundaries of clean technologies and renewable energies to unprecedented levels.”

The company is now expected to continue to work towards its goal of completing a round-the-world journey using the plane in 2015.

In related news, the world’s largest solar-powered boat, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, has announced it is heading for Canada as part of a scientific expedition.

The boat has already travelled from Miami to New York, and was intending to make its next stop in Iceland. But captain Gérard d’Aboville was concerned that the angle of the sun relative to the boat’s 537 square metres of photovoltaic cells would compromise its ability to recharge. Instead it will dock in St John’s, Halifax.