The single-seated Solar Impulse 2 airplane, powered solely by the sun, has taken off from Seville on a flight to Cairo on the last stages of its round-the-world journey. The route will see it fly close to Malta.
The Seville-Cairo leg is the solar plane's penultimate flight before it reaches the finish line of its round-the-world trip in Abu-Dhabi, the starting point of the journey.
The plane left Seville at at 6:20 a.m.. It's the 16th leg of the plane's round-the-world trip, which has been shared by Swiss aviators Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard.
The plane's flight path. Photo: FlightRadar24Borschberg is flying his last flight after spending two summer seasons flying the Solar Impulse 2 around the world and completing the longest solo endurance flight, breaking Steve Fossett's 2006 record.
"It's my last flight for this round the world epic so I start to think about it. Of course, I'm happy, you know, that we get close to the end. Still very prudent, you know, knowing that it's not done yet so I have to stay really focussed and I guess it's the same for the team," Borschberg said.
The flight to Cairo International Airport is expected to take 50 hours and 30 minutes.
With a cruising speed of around 70 kilometres an hour (43 miles per hour), similar to an average car, the plane has more than 17,0000 solar cells built in to wings with a span bigger than that of a Boeing 747.