Unique People Eric Raymond was the first person to fly across the United States on solar power in 1990 in Sunseeker 1. He was the first to fly on the sun’s rays over the Matterhorn in 2009 in Sunseeker 2. He and his wife Irena built the Sunseeker Duo and routinely fly it around northern Italy and over the Alps into Switzerland. Eric has more hours piloting a solar-powered airplane than anyone, and Irena is probably the most experienced female solar pilot. Only Bertrand Piccard and Andre’ Borschberg in the Solar Impulse would have anywhere need as much time at the controls. Janice Brown, “a…former elementary school teacher” flew Paul MacCready’s Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger, even achieving a record altitude of 15,300 feet in 1981. But Irena has by now easily exceeded Ms. Brown’s total solar flight time. Eric and Irena are professional photographers, and all of Eric’s designs have sliding canopies or large openings to allow use …
