Solar Impulse plane heads for Myanmar

The solar-powered plane attempting to fly around the world is crossing India and hoping to make it arrive in Myanmar by Thursday.

Solar Impulse took off from Ahmedabad at 07:18 local time and is heading to Varanasi in India's Uttar Pradesh region where it will make a short stop before flying over the Bay of Bengal.

The two pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, are taking it in turns to control Solar Impulse on its circumnavigation of the globe.

They have covered approximately 2,000km in two stages since beginning the adventure in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

It is due to complete the journey on arriving back in the UAE in five months having crossed both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The leg from Ahmedabad to Varanasi is the third stage of the flight and should take about 15 hours to complete the 1,100km trip.

The Solar Impulse project has already set world records, including the greatest distance covered in a single solar-powered flight; the 1,468km on leg two from Muscat in Oman to Ahmedabad.

The wingspan of the plane is 72m, which exceeds that of a 747 jumbo jet airliner but it only weighs 2.3 tonnes.

The aircraft is powered by 17,000 solar cells that line the top of the wings, and the energy-dense lithium-ion batteries will used for night-time flying.