Eric Raymond shared this story of a short cross-country flight between his home field of Voghera, Italy and the town of Pavullo, about 100 air miles away. It’s significant in being the first cross-country solar-powered flight for two, Eric’s wife Irena sharing flying duties. The “normal” nature of the trip and the practicality of the airplane show that Eric is expanding his pioneering efforts from his initial flight across the United States in 1990 and his trip across the Alps in 2009 – all on solar power. He’s received precious little attention in the press for these sublime journeys, a situation we hope to redeem here. “Irena and I just returned from an overnight trip in our new plane, our first experience traveling in it. “We set our goal to be easy, only 100 miles away, and in the conditions we could have flown twice that far, both ways. “Climbing over the clouds on our way, we enjoyed a tailwind …
