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British UAS smashes endurance record and is still going.

Posted by Gary Mortimer on July 16, 2010 at 9:00am

The Qinetiq Zephyr has been airborne for 7 days and as I write this.... 2 hours and 23 minutes. Its still flying. I believe they are going for two weeks. It took off last Friday from the Yuma testing grounds in Arizona at 1440 BST (0640 local)

Its Friday night lets all raise a glass to them!!!

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Gary Mortimer July 21, 2010 at 12:59pm

I think landing is an issue, especially as regards weather, it has to be good all the way down from 60k, so will they be able to get down for Friday and grab some media during Farnborough or will they have to keep going?? Saturday morning looks OK to me but what do I know. If they keep going the low level weather looks like its getting poor from Monday for another week. Can it fly that long.........

The one in the video is the old one, I think the new one is nearly twice the size, if they do get to 14 days we ought to have a world party to celebrate at 1440 BST on Friday.
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Morli July 21, 2010 at 12:05pm

" target="_blank">here , well it is not going to kill anyone by running over during belly landing or "catch me" phase , may be I am wrong since i never try to catch any thing that is bigger than me.
Feliks July 21, 2010 at 11:44am

Ohh, never mind, I just saw it in the previous post. It's so slow...
Feliks July 21, 2010 at 11:42am

No I haven't seen the takeoff above. Can you link me please?
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Morli July 21, 2010 at 11:35am

Feliks, did you watch the take off above?? it was so surreal but by looks of it I think they can catch it too when it comes for landing( walk in park?) :))
Feliks July 21, 2010 at 6:41am

Haha, well maybe they land it on a grassy field and salvage whatever is left. But seriously, at over $1 million price tag, it's gotta have a way. Maybe they catch it by hand while driving on a pickup truck. ;)
T3

Krzysztof Bosak July 21, 2010 at 6:17am

I think it is not designed for landing ;-)
Everybody knows this is the most dangerous phase, so why risk it?
Feliks July 21, 2010 at 5:58am

Awesome stuff, it takes off with people pushing it and then goes on its own power. Landing gear is out, but how do they land it?
Patrick Egan July 17, 2010 at 5:29pm

I'm not on the Zephyr team, but I believe we are attached to the same program as there is a picture of it on the wall in my building. (Sorry for the confusion)
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Morli July 17, 2010 at 2:19pm

Adrian and Patrick,
Congrats to The Team. Your team's hard work is paying off now. A new bench mark is now set of every one else to measure upto. Looking forward to see the video & more news from this historic event.

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