Solar Impulse-2 (Si2), the world’s first aircraft running solely on solar power, touched down here on Wednesday evening, over an hour behind schedule after “immigration hiccups” at the Ahmedabad airport where it landed a week ago.
While the project’s chairman Bertrand Piccard had flown the single-seater, 2,300-kg aircraft to Ahmedabad from Muscat, the project’s co-founder, Andre Borschberg, flew it to Varanasi in just over 13 hours.
The LED-lit plane, with the longest wingspan of 63 metres for any aircraft, created much excitement in the holy city as it flew over the famous ghats along the banks of the Ganga before landing at the Babatpur airport on the outskirts of the city at 8.35 p.m.
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Ahmedabad and Varanasi were chosen as the touch points in India for the Si2’s first round-the-world flight that began on March 9 from Abu Dhabi. The flight, brainchild of Mr. Piccard and Mr. Borschberg, is scheduled to leave for Mandalay in Myanmar on Thursday morning.
“Andre Borschberg and Si2 are airborne in India, flying from Ahmedabad to Varanasi, entirely powered by the sun ... The tent hosting Si2 in Ahmedabad is now empty and the solar airplane on its way to Varanasi,” Team Solar Impulse tweeted in the morning after the solar-powered aircraft took off from Ahmedabad after a two-hour delay.
Mr. Piccard tweeted about some issues in customs and immigration clearances at Ahmedabad and sought help. “BREAKING: @bertrandpiccard blocked in #Ahmedabad to get a stamp in his passport. Does anyone can help?” the team tweeted.
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This created a buzz among Twitteratti, who blamed the infamous “Indian red tapism” for the delay.
But officials in Delhi rubbished the claims of Mr. Piccard, and blamed the Swiss pilot for oversight in filling the forms. Sources said the pilot did not fill the general disclosure form. However, Home Affairs Ministry officials reportedly expedited clearances.