Humongous light craft.
No idea how much it could carry in passengers or cargo. I get the idea that there was no capacity to spare, even under bright clear skies. Still, why couldn’t photovoltaics be used to help ease the fuel usage of conventional aircraft that commonly fly above the clouds? As in lightening the load on generators? It needn’t be anywhere close to a total solution to be useful.
Adding drag to wings and fuselage, flying off of wings and fuselage at inopportune times doing 400-500 MPH..........Just guessing.
I hate light craft in high lift areas.
Some folks love it.
I bet he picked up thermals of the Mts and ascended to a very high altitude and then used solar power to assist staying aloft across the Med
At any rate for all of my snarking... Bravo!