Swiss pioneers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg have completed the first ever flight around the world in an airplane fueled only by solar power. The aircraft touched down at 4:05 AM on Tuesday bringing to a close the monumental feat after over a year of circumnavigating the globe. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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00:00Al Batin Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi is hosting the historic landing of Solar Impulse
00:112. The plane has travelled 40,000 kilometres around the world using only solar power. We're
00:18expecting the plane to land here at around 4am. It has completed around 500 hours of
00:24flight time, travelling at average speeds of around 45 to 90 kilometres an hour and
00:31at altitudes of around 9,000 metres. The pilot's journey began back in March 2015 and they've
00:39done a remarkable job and their efforts were congratulated by a VIP group of dignitaries.
00:45For me today is a day of gratitude. Gratitude for the team, all these colleagues, friends who have
01:02given up their private life basically to make this project become a reality. The risk of being
01:10disappointed, of being unsuccessful is so high. Why do we do it? And we do it because we are
01:22pioneers, because we're explorers, because we know in our team that there is a single way to fail,
01:36it is to never try. The Solar Impulse plane has landed and it has made history. It has
01:42become the only aircraft to travel the world without using a drop of fossil fuels and it has
01:48really proven that solar energy is here as a viable technology and it has opened up the
01:54doors for green travel. Sari Garampaya, Golf News.