<p><br /> An experimental solar-powered plane has landed safely after completing its first 24-hour test flight, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.<br /> </p><p><br /> Pilot Andre Borschberg eased the Solar Impulse onto the runway at Payerne airfield about 30 miles southwest of the Swiss capital Bern at 9am local time.<br /> </p><p><br /> The 57-year-old former Swiss fighter who wore a parachute for the flight, dodged low-level turbulence and thermal winds, endured freezing conditions during the night and ended the test flight with a picture-perfect landing to cheers and whoops from hundreds of supporters on the ground.<br /> </p><p><br /> Helpers rushed to stabilise the pioneering plane as it touched down, ensuring that its massive 207-foot wingspan didn't scrape the ground and topple the craft.<br /> </p><p><br /> The record feat completes seven years of planning and brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.<br /> </p><p><br /> After completing final tests on the plane after landing, Borschberg embraced project co-founder Bertrand Piccard, before gingerly unstrapping himself from the bathtub size cockpit he had spent more than 26 hours sitting in.<br /> </p><p><br /> Piccard, himself a record-breaking balloonist, said many people had been sceptical that renewable energy could ever be used to take a man into the air and keep him there.<br /> </p><p><br /> "After landing we have shown that with renewable energies and energy savings, we can achieve impossible things. so there is a before and after in terms of what people have to believe and understand about renewable energies", he said.<br /> </p><p><br /> The team will now set its sights on an Atlantic crossing, before attempting a round-the-world flight in 2013, making only five stops along the way.<br /> </p>
