Solar plane crossing U.S. lands near D.C.

WASHINGTON -- A solar-powered plane nearing the close of a cross-continental journey landed at Dulles International Airport outside the nation's capital early Sunday, only one short leg to New York remaining on a voyage that began in May.

Solar Impulse's website said the aircraft with its massive wings and thousands of photovoltaic cells "gracefully touched down" at 12:15 a.m. after 14 hours and four minutes of flight from Cincinnati to Dulles in Washington's Virginia suburbs.

Pilot Bertrand Piccard was at the controls for the last time on the multi-leg "Across America" journey that began May 3 in San Francisco. His fellow Swiss pilot, Andre Borschberg, is expected to fly the last leg from Washington to Kennedy Airport in early July, the website added.

It's the first bid by a solar plane capable of being airborne day and night without fuel to fly across the United States, at speeds reaching about 40 mph. The plane opened by flying from San Francisco via Arizona, Texas, Missouri and Ohio onward to Dulles with stops of several days in cities along the way.

The project's ultimate goal is to fly a sun-powered aircraft around the world with a second-generation plane now in development. -- AP