Solar plane on global trip headed to Oklahoma from Arizona

Project officials said Wednesday that the Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 is scheduled to take off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 3 a.m. PDT Thursday with a destination of Tulsa International Airport.

The Solar Impulse 2's wings, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries.

The crew was forced to stay in Oahu, Hawaii for nine months after the plane's battery system sustained heat damage on its trip from Japan.