Record flight of a gasoline-electric drone: 330 km

California startup Skyfront has set a new record for drones in the air. The two-meter drone, which runs on electricity and gasoline, lasted a full 13 hours, which exceeded all previous figures for other similar devices.

Some drones in the form of aircraft can stay in the air for days, weeks and even longer, flying hundreds of kilometers. In contrast, multi-rotor drones have better maneuverability, but not autonomy. Skyfront engineers managed to significantly increase current performance. Their Perimeter 8 drone lasted 13 hours 3 minutes and 57 seconds in the air, covering a distance of 330 km.

Perimeter 8 measures 2 x 1.9 meters and is equipped with a hybrid gasoline-electric transmission. According to Skyfront, this has increased the flight time by 20 times. It is stated that the serial version of the drone has a maximum autonomy without payload of more than five hours with a range of 177 km, while the experimental model received an additional tank for gasoline, which doubled this figure.

“This is an unheard-of feat for the industry: our drone remained in the air all day. Perimeter 8 depicts the sun moving across the sky, rising and setting over the coastal ridges of California. This flight symbolizes a paradigm shift in aviation for public safety and commercial applications,” says Skyfront.

The previous record belonged to the South Korean company Metavista Inc, which created a quadcopter on hydrogen fuel cells with an autonomy of 12 hours 7 minutes and 5 seconds. Unfortunately, this time there were no representatives of the Guinness Book of Records, so officially Perimeter 8 could not take first place.