Solar plane starts Pacific Ocean record attempt

The Solar Impulse 2 solar-powered plane is making its second attempt at a record-breaking flight across the Pacific Ocean, after waiting nearly two months for clear weather.

The plane left the central Japanese city of Nagoya on Sunday and is scheduled to land in Hawaii after its flight which is estimated to take about 120 hours.

The first attempt to fly over the Pacific was cut short after a change in the forecast forced an unscheduled landing and another attempt to take off last Tuesday was cancelled due to weather concerns.

The plane started the 35,000 kilometre (22,000 mile) journey from Abu Dhabi in March before crossing the Arabian Sea to Ahmedabad and Varanasi in India and heading to Mandalay in Myanmar, and the Chinese cities Chongqing and Nanjing.

The pilots were diverted to Nagoya on the way from China to Hawaii due to bad weather over the Pacific Ocean.

If successful it will be the longest solo flight in aviation history and the furthest distance flown by a solar powered plane.

Andre Borschberg, the Swiss pilot and co-founder of Solar Impulse is flying the experimental single-seater craft, was initially supposed to begin his journey to Hawaii from Nanjing in China.

The experimental craft - which has 17,000 solar cells - is powered only by the Sun.

The plane is then scheduled to continue its circumnavigation of the glob with Bertrand Piccard taking the controls for the next Pacific crossing from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland.

Si2 is made from carbon fibre and contains almost 17,250 solar cells built in to the four electric motors.