Solar Impulse 2, the solar plane currently embarking on a round-the-world flight, has successfully landed in Nagoya, Japan, after running into bad weather during its Pacific crossing from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii, USA.

The plane, piloted by André Borschberg, a former Swiss fighter pilot, landed in Nagoya Airfield at 14:49 UTC, completing a record-breaking continuous solar-powered flight.

Upon landing, Borschberg had been in the air for 43 hours and 10 minutes, powered only by solar energy.

“Never before could we dream of solar impulse flying so well,” said said Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse chairman, initiator and alternate pilot.

“It happened last night; the plane could make it through the night with no fuel, get the sun from the sunrise and continue.

“Now we have airplanes that can fly with no fuel forever.”

The landing, which involved a skeleton crew, was watched tensely by Solar Impulse mission control, which included co-pilot Bertrand Piccard, flight director Raymond Clerc and Borschberg’s son Deniz.

Due to the urgency of the landing, which had been planned last-minute and so did not involve the usual extensive talks between Solar Impulse and the airport in question, the plane will undergo a tie-down procedure to keep it from damage until its mobile hangar, currently at another airport in the region, can be delivered and erected.

The plane had just a single wheel in its middle to land on, so a member of the crew on a high-speed electric bike had to ride along with the landing plane and stabilise the wings as it touched down.

Incredibly despite the chaos, the landing went off without a hitch, and Borschberg was able to safely disembark.

Amazing spirit as @andreborschberg lands after more than 40 hours of flight in Nagoya! #futureisclean pic.twitter.com/SPHVFDh1OJ — SOLAR IMPULSE (@solarimpulse) June 1, 2015

How long the plane remains in Japan remains to be seen.

The weather experts among Solar Impulse’s crew are now tasked with finding a suitable window to continue the journey to Hawaii, and the plane will remain in Nagoya until then.

However, the Japanese landing has complicated matters somewhat. When Solar Impulse 2 left China, the team had two routes to consider, one to the north and one to the south, and planned to select the best option as the journey progressed.

But the landing in Japan makes the southern route impossible, making good weather conditions all the more important if the plane is to make it to Hawaii in one piece.

“Now we are closer to Hawaii, but we cannot take the southern route anymore,” said Piccard.

There is also the question of who will pilot the flight. The first choice is likely to be Borschberg, but until he has had time to relax and consider, Solar Impulse is keeping its options open.

In response to a query on its live feed, the company said: “We will see, but for the moment it is still André flying over the Pacific.”

Read more about the unplanned landing here.

Featured image courtesy of Solar Impulse: screenshot from live feed.