NEW DELHI — A solar-powered airplane on a round-the-world journey took off Thursday from the northern Indian town of Varanasi and was headed for its next stop in Myanmar. Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg are taking turns flying the aircraft as they attempt to circumnavigate the globe on the journey that was expected to take five months. The fuel-free aircraft, called the Solar Impulse 2, is powered by more than 17,000 solar cells on its wings that recharge the plane's batteries, enabling it to fly during the day or night. The single-seat Swiss-made plane was expected to land in Mandalay in Myanmar later Thursday. The plane's journey began last week in Abu Dhabi, when Borschberg flew the first leg of the trip to Muscat, Oman. For the second leg, Piccard was at the controls of the aircraft. The 1,465-km flight from Muscat to Ahmadabad in western India took nearly 16 hours, and took the plane over the Arabian Sea in its first sea crossing. — AP
