Solar Flight of California has completed a milestone for its third airplane, the Sunseeker Duo, which flew across the Alps and back this month on a tour to demonstrate the capabilities of the two-seat aircraft. Company founders Eric and Irena Raymond flew the Duo, repeating the 2009 Alps crossing of their second plane, Sunseeker II. They flew from Torino Aeritalia airport in Italy on Aug. 2. The next day, the Duo encountered downdrafts, making climbing difficult. ''Eventually we were at the base of the Matterhorn on the Italian side, looking up at an impassible wall of ice. We needed to climb several thousand feet more, just to slip into Zermatt, but the batteries were low from all the motoring,'' Eric Raymond said in a company statement. "We flew back south and soared in difficult conditions until the batteries were fully charged."
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/business-military/solar-flights-sunseeker-crosses-alps