Successfully Completed Long-Endurance Test Flight

Spotlight
1

Hello everyone!
I’d like to share some highlights from our recent flight tests using a hybrid UAV.
The purpose was to verify its long-endurance capabilities in strong sea-level winds.

Flight Details

  • Takeoff Location: Guangzhou Sanjiang Flight Base, Wind Force 5
  • Fuel Capacity: 18 liters (only 9 liters were added during the test)
  • Test Cruising Altitude: 700 meters
  • Cruising Speed: 27 meters per second

Results

  • The hybrid system operated stably, and fuel consumption met expectations.
  • The data link remained stable over a range of 80 kilometers.
  • Final flight time was 4 hours and 25 minutes.

Question?
To make the aircraft fly further, should I add more fuel or go for extreme lightweighting?

Here are some images from the mission:

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2

Hi Jackfeng,

Congrats for the successful flight test and thank you for sharing it. I am working on the hybrid system too, thought it is so early to make flight tests now. Can you give me a tip on how you configured the hybrid system with PX4 Autopilot if that was what you did?

3

Impressive work. @jackfeng, can you teach us how you integrate a petrol engine with the PX4 flight stack?