CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : DESERT CENTER : Solar Flight Delayed by Technical Glitch

The pilot of the Sun-Seeker, a spindly homemade plane covered with 700 solar cells, has been forced to delay the start of his planned transcontinental flight in order to correct technical problems. Eric Raymond, a champion hang glider, had been expected to begin a 10-day cross-country flight in the Sun-Seeker Friday morning, but needed additional time to correct problems with the aircraft’s propeller, his spokesman, Jack Whitehouse, said. Whitehouse said Raymond will perform two or three test flights and could take off from Desert Center, east of Palm Springs, as early as this weekend. Raymond’s first stop on his way to Kitty Hawk, N.C., will be Albuquerque, N.M. Raymond, 33, spent four years building the plane in his garage in Lake Elsinore, Calif.