Solar-plane record

A lightweight solar-powered plane has smashed the official world record for the longest-duration unmanned flight. UK defence firm Qinetiq, which built the Zephyr unmanned aerial vehicle, said it flew for 54 hours during tests.

The researchers believe it is the first time a solar-powered craft has flown under its own power through two nights. The previous unmanned endurance record was set in 2001 by a jet-powered US Air Force Global Hawk surveillance aircraft which flew for more than 30 hours.

The QinetiQ’s Zephyr's High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 54-hour endurance flight will not enter the record books because representatives from the world air sports federation - the FAI - were not notified about the secretive test. However, they were informed about a second, 33-hour flight which could still become an official record.

Zephyr's development team say that whatever the result, it believes it has built a record breaker. "This aeroplane is going to go a lot higher and a lot further," Chris Kelleher, Zephyr's technical director and "pilot", told the BBC News website. "You ain't seen nothing yet."