Zephyr Lands After Fourteen Plus Days Aloft | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-12.01.25

AirborneNextGen-
12.02.25

Airborne-Unlimited-12.03.25

Airborne-FltTraining-12.04.25

AirborneUnlimited-12.05.25

AFE 2025 LIVE MOSAIC Town Hall (Archived): www.airborne-live.net

Sun, Jul 25, 2010

Zephyr Lands After Fourteen Plus Days Aloft

Solar Powered Aircraft Shattered Flight Records

The solar-powered Zephyr UAV has landed after more than 14 days of continuous flight powered by nothing more than sunlight.

Qinetiq, the UK-based company which built the UAV, said it had nothing more to prove by extending the flight any longer.

The Zephyr has shattered all endurance records for unmanned flight with it's 14+ days aloft. The plane was hand-launched at the Yuma proving grounds in Arizona on July 9th. It surpassed the previous record for an unmanned aerial vehicle after only 31 hours.

The Zephyr flew as high as 60,000 feet to give its solar panels maximum exposure to the sun. The panels not only powered the aircraft's engine, but also charged the on-board lithium-sulphur batteries which kept it aloft through the night.

"We are just really delighted with the performance," project manager Jon Saltmarsh told the BBC. He said the Zephyr is now no longer considered to be "experimental", and was ready to begin the operational phase of its life.

FMI: www.qinetiq.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (12.04.25): Cooperative Surveillance

Cooperative Surveillance Any surveillance system, such as secondary surveillance radar (SSR), wide-area multilateration (WAM), or ADS-B, that is dependent upon the presence of cert>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (12.04.25)

Aero Linx: OX5 Aviation Pioneers Incorporated in 1955 as a Pa 501 (c)(3) Not for Profit Corporation, the OX5 Aviation Pioneers is dedicated to bringing before the public the accomp>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Extra Flugzeugproduktions EA 300/SC

The Pilot Appeared To Regain Control After Six Rotations And Attempted To “Fly Out” Inverted But Had Insufficient Altitude On November 8, 2025, at 1038 eastern standard>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: The Bally Bomber - The All Time Ultimate Warbird Replica?

From 2018 (YouTube Edition): Aero-News Talks With The Airplane's Builder One of the many unique airplanes at AirVenture 2018 was a 1/3-scale B-17 bomber built by Jack Bally, who ta>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (12.05.25)

Aero Linx: Society of U.S. Army Flight Surgeons (SoUSAFS) The Society of US Army Flight Surgeons (SoUSAFS) serves to advance the science and art of Aerospace Medicine and its allie>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC