When Jeffrey Skiles, the co-pilot of the plane that made an emergency landing in the Hudson River in January 2009, explained how he and his captain decided that an airport landing was impossible, he described the same "gaze heuristic": The angle of the plane's descending glide made the airport appear to rise in their windscreen view clearly signaling that a landing there was doomed.

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Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse co-founder and chairman, said the plane should be ready for the cross-country journey on May 1, depending on the weather.

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Dr. Ogilvie, who flies, became a co-owner of a small plane when the couple first moved to Winslow and he eventually bought his three partners' shares.

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Mr Putin has recently been talking to China about co-operating on another, larger plane.

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The altitude at which the co-pilot handed control of the plane to his colleague was below the minimum altitude considered safe to continue final descent.

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"All the big pioneers of the 20th century have tried to fly coast to coast across America, " said co-pilot and one of the plane's founders, Bertrand Piccard.

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Bush arrived at the huge carrier off the California coast on a Navy plane, sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

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