Solar Airplane Completes Cross-Country Flight

If you have been following along on the journey of Solar Impulse, the solar airplane that was set to fly across the United States, we have good news: the journey is over after a successful flight from Washington to New York on Saturday.

The two-month, ground-breaking flight started in California and took 14,000 viewers along for the ride in streaming video. The “Clean Generation” initiative flight of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg successfully landed at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport at 11:09 p.m. EDT. Flying across the United States, Solar Impulse was powered only by energy that came from 12,000 solar cells installed on its wings and horizontal stabilizer.Making aviation history, the team of Solar Impulse has come a long way but has even further to go. In 2015, they plan on flying around the world, totally on solar power of course.

The Solar Impulse team will be available to the public at JFK International Airport on Saturday July 13 from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday July 14 from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Bits of the Concorde to be Auctioned Off

Were it not for the iconic bent, needle nose, the Concorde would probably have been just another airplane. Sure, it flew at supersonic speeds and featured only First Class, but it was that funky bent nose that really hammered this extraordinary plane into the public psyche.

The Concorde, however, was finally retired in 2003 and with it disappeared a little piece of aviation history.

But not entirely.

Like any vestige of history these days, nostalgia has its value. Airplane enthusiast will be happy to learn that bits and pieces of the plane are to be auctioned off to the public; air speed indicators, oxygen masks, and landing gear, are just a few of the items for sale. Gadling readers will be excited to learn that a Concorde toilet seat will see the gavel as well. Sorry, but the needle noses were already sold a few years ago.