Swiss pilot soars to 31,237 feet in a record solar-powered flight

Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan set a new altitude record for solar-powered electric planes by flying his SolarStratos aircraft to 31,237 feet (9,521 meters), surpassing a 15-year-old record of 30,298 feet. The flight, launched from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland, lasted five hours and nine minutes and involved using warm air thermals to climb higher. At cruising altitude, Domjan even crossed paths with a commercial airliner, symbolizing the potential for decarbonized aviation. The flight data will be submitted to the World Air Sports Federation for official verification. The SolarStratos plane is a carbon fiber, single-propeller aircraft with a wingspan of 81.4 feet (24.8 meters) covered by 237 square feet (22 square meters) of advanced solar panels. It can take off at 31 mph and cruise at about 50 mph. Domjan, an experienced eco-adventurer and lecturer, aims to eventually reach the