A Russian ground staff member signals to the pilot of a Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet at the Hmeymim air base near Latakia, Syria, in this handout photograph released by Russia's Defence Ministry October 22, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation)

A Russian air force technician reports to a pilot that a bomber is ready for a combat mission at Hemeimeem air base in Syria Wednesday January 20, 2016. Russian warplanes have flown over 5,700 combat missions since Moscow launched its air campaign in Syria on September 30, 2015. (Photo by Vladimir Isachenkov/AP Photo)

A pilot inflates a hot air balloon while taking part in the 38th International Balloon Festival of Chateau-d'oex, Switzerland, 23 January 2016. The festival takes place from 23 to 31 January. (Photo by Vincent Vannay/EPA)

The R.C. Bush Pilots club was started in 1981, for those who enjoy flying radio control (RC) model planes. It’s one of the largest clubs in Florida, and calls Phil Wherry Field in West Palm Beach home. Photo: Professional pilot and remote control plane enthusiast Bob Rembert prepares to start the propeller of a 1/4 scale Edge 540 remote control, gas powered plane. (Photo by Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post)

Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard prepares for a test flight of the solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 experimental aircraft in Payerne November 13, 2014. The aircraft, weighing 2.4 tons with a wingspan of 72 meters, is fitted with more than 17,000 solar cells. An attempt to fly around the world in stages using only solar energy will be made in 2015. (Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

“Solar Impulse is a European long-range solar powered plane project being undertaken by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg. The project eventually hopes to succeed in the first circling of the earth with a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power. The first aircraft, bearing the Swiss aircraft registration code of HB-SIA, is a single-seater, capable of taking off under its own power, and intended to remain airborne up to 36 hours. This aircraft first flew an entire diurnal solar cycle, including nearly 9 hours of night flying, in a 26-hour flight on 7–8 July 2010”. – Wikipedia


Photo: Workers prepare the Solar Impulse airplane HB-SIA for a first runway test on November 19, 2009 in Dubendorf, Switzerland. Solar Impulse chairman Bertrand Piccard, psychatrist and aeronaut, who made the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight, and CEO and former fighter pilot Andrй Borschberg plan a round-the-world flight, driven only by solar energy, for 2012. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

France's Christian Lavieille and co-pilot Jean-Michel Polato compete with their Proto Dessoude during the first stage of the Dakar Rally 2013 from Lima to Pisco January 5, 2013. (Photo by Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)

The Boeing 747-8 cargo plane pilot has seen thunderstorms, shooting stars and sunsets from up above the clouds and has looked down on mountaintops, carpets of cloud and cities lit up at night. The incredible pictures give a glimpse of the view from the pilots are treated to every day. Here: Shooting stars over India. (Photo by Christiaan van Heijst/Caters News Agency)