[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by dcb

Here is another one, I forget how fast, maybe 25mph or something on a slight decline...
Solar Airplane Attempts First International Flight | Autopia | Wired.com Initial scan of the comments seems to be in agreement with what I'm trying to say. 100+ million dollars for 25mph?

You're still trapped in the box of thinking of the airplane as a way to get from A to B. There are both practical & recreational reasons why you might also want aircraft that would do something different. As for instance this solar powered one: park it at 30,000 feet and it could circle for years (with robotic pilotage) doing surveillance or acting as a cell phone relay.

Or again, the recreational market. I don't suppose that in all my sailplane flying, I ever got much more than about 10 miles from my starting point, so fuel/battery capacity is pretty irrelevant, as long as it's enough to launch and get into a thermal.