China weather grounds solar-powered plane

Washington: The Solar Impulse 2, first experimental around the world solar-powered plane is stuck in China due to weather.

What was supposed to be an overnight pit stop in the southwestern city of Chongqing has now stretched into a two-and-a-half week stay, the CNN reported.

It's an unexpected layover that's testing the patience of the pilots and more than 60 team members, just a quarter of the way along a journey that will cover some 35,000 kilometers over five months.

The takeoff was canceled, because the cross winds in Nanjing, the plane's destination, were forecast to be too strong around its expected landing time.

With more than 17,000 solar cells along the tops of its wings and fuselage, the Solar Impulse 2 stores up energy during the day, in order to power the motors that carry it through the night, typically at speeds no faster than a car on a highway.