What is the longest time a plane can fly?

Table of Contents Show

Aeroplane[edit]
Non-refueled, crewed[edit]
Refueled, crewed[edit]
Airline, scheduled[edit]
Aeroplane, uncrewed[edit]
Helicopter[edit]
Crewed, non-refueled[edit]
Uncrewed[edit]
Free balloon, crewed[edit]
Airship[edit]
Glider[edit]
Space station, crewed[edit]
Aerospacecraft, orbital, crewed[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
How long can a plane fly for without stopping?
What is the longest a plane can fly?

The current record for the longest non-stop, non-refueled airplane flight in history (9 days and 3 minutes) was achieved in the Rutan Voyager

The flight endurance record is the longest amount of time an aircraft of a particular category spent in flight without landing. It can be a solo event, or multiple people can take turns piloting the aircraft, as long as all pilots remain in the aircraft. The limit initially was the amount of fuel that could be stored for the flight, but aerial refueling extended that parameter. Due to safety concerns, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) no longer recognizes new records for the duration of crewed airplane or glider flights and has never recognized any duration records for helicopters.

Aeroplane[edit]

Non-refueled, crewed[edit]

Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilots	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
09:00:03:44	December 14–23, 1986	Edwards Air Force Base, circumnavigation	Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager	Rutan Voyager		[1]
04:21:51:00	June 28 to July 3, 2015	Nagoya, Japan – Kalaeloa Airport, Hawaii, United States (8263 kilometres)	André Borschberg	Solar Impulse 2	Solar plane, without any fuel; also longest solo airplane flight of any type	[2][3]
03:12:32:00	May 25–28, 1931	Jacksonville, Florida	Walter Edwin Lees and Frederic Brossy	Bellanca J-2	Last record recognized by FAI	[4]
03:03:23:07	February 26 to March 1, 1931	La Sénia, Algeria	Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi	Blériot 110		[5]
02:19:13:55	May 30 to June 2, 1930	Montecelio, Italy	Umberto Maddalena and Fausto Cecconi	Savoia-Marchetti S.64		[6]
02:17:25:00	July 5–7, 1928	Dessau, Germany	Johann Risztics and Wilhelm Zimmermann	Junkers W 33	Also surpassed the refueled record	[7]
02:04:22:31.8	August 3–5, 1927	Dessau, Germany	Cornelius Edzard and Johann Risztics	Junkers W 33		[8]
02:03:11:25	April 12–14, 1927	Long Island, New York	Clarence Duncan Chamberlin and Bertrand Blanchard Acosta	Wright-Bellanca WB-2 "Columbia"		[9]
01:21:11:59	August 7–9, 1925	Chartres, France	Maurice Drouhin and Jules Landry	Farman F.60 Goliath		[10]
01:13:59:10	July 16–17, 1924	Chartres, France	Etienne Coupet and Maurice Drouhin	Farman F-60	Also surpassed the refueled record	[11]
01:12:04:34	April 16–17, 1923	Wilbur Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio	Oakley George Kelly and John Arthur Macready	Fokker T-2		[12]
01:10:14:07	October 14–15, 1922	Le Bourget, France	Lucien Bossoutrot and Robert Drouhin	Farman F.60 Goliath		[13]
01:02:19:35	December 29–30, 1921	Roosevelt Field, New York;[14] FAI record says Jacksonville, Florida	Edward A. Stinson and Lloyd Bertaud	Junkers-Larsen JL-6	First record recognized by FAI	[15]
01:00:19:07	June 3–4, 1920	Ville Sauvage la Dordogne, France	Lucien Bossoutrot and Jean Bernard	Farman F.60 Goliath		[16]
01:00:12:00	July 10–11, 1914	Johannisthal Air Field near Berlin, Germany	Reinhold Böhm	Albatros biplane		[17][18]
00:21:49:00	June 28–29, 1914	Johannisthal Air Field near Berlin, Germany	Werner Landmann	Albatros biplane		[19]
00:13:22:00	September 11, 1912	Étampes airfield in France	Alexandre Fourny (Fourney)	Maurice Farman MF-2		[20][21]
00:11:01:29	September 1, 1911	Buc, France	Alexandre Fourny (Fourney)	Maurice Farman biplane		[22][23]
00:08:12:45	December 18, 1910	Étampes airfield in France	Henri Farman	Maurice Farman biplane		[24]
00:06:01:00	October 28, 1910	Buc, France	Maurice Tabuteau	Maurice Farman MF-2		[25]
00:05:03:05	July 10, 1910	Reims, France	Jan Olieslagers	Blériot monoplane		[25][26]
00:04:17:35	November 3, 1909	Mourmelon-le-Grand, France	Henri Farman	H. Farman		[27]
00:02:18:33.6	December 31, 1908	Camp d’Auvours near Le Mans, France	Wilbur Wright	Wright Model A		[28]
00:01:54:00.4	December 18, 1908	Camp d’Auvours near Le Mans, France	Wilbur Wright	Wright Model A		[28]
00:01:31:25.8	September 21, 1908	Camp d’Auvours near Le Mans, France	Wilbur Wright	Wright Model A		[28]
00:01:14:20	September 12, 1908	Fort Myer, Virginia	Orville Wright	Wright Model A		[29]
00:01:10:24	September 11, 1908	Fort Myer, Virginia	Orville Wright	Wright Model A		[29]
00:01:05:52	September 10, 1908	Fort Myer, Virginia	Orville Wright	Wright Model A		[29]
00:01:02:15	September 9, 1908	Fort Myer, Virginia	Orville Wright	Wright Model A		[29]
00:00:59:23.8	October 5, 1905	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Wilbur Wright	Wright Flyer III		[30]
00:00:33:17	October 4, 1905	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Orville Wright	Wright Flyer III		[30]
00:00:26:11.2	October 3, 1905	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Orville Wright	Wright Flyer III		[30]
00:00:19:56	September 29, 1905	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Orville Wright	Wright Flyer III		[30]
00:00:18:11	September 26, 1905	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Wilbur Wright	Wright Flyer III		[30]
00:00:05:41	September 12, 1905	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Wilbur Wright	Wright Flyer III		[30]
00:00:05:04	November 9, 1904	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Wilbur Wright	Wright Flyer II		[31]
00:00:01:38	October 14, 1904	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Orville Wright	Wright Flyer II		[31]
00:00:01:35	September 20, 1904	Huffman Prairie, Ohio	Wilbur Wright	Wright Flyer II		[31]
00:00:00:59	December 17, 1903	Kitty Hawk, North Carolina	Wilbur Wright	Wright Flyer		[32]
00:00:00:12	December 17, 1903	Kitty Hawk, North Carolina	Orville Wright	Wright Flyer	First flight	[32]

Refueled, crewed[edit]

The Cessna 172, used by Robert Timm and John Cook, hanging in Harry Reid International Airport.

Robert Timm and John Cook Cessna 172 refueling

The aircraft Curtiss Robin "St. Louis" during the record flight July 13–30, 1929, St. Louis, Missouri.

Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilots	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
64:22:19:05	December 4, 1958, to February 7, 1959	Las Vegas, Nevada	Robert Timm and John Cook	Cessna 172, Hacienda	Refueled from moving truck on ground	[33]
50:00:18:20	August 2, 1958, to September 21, 1958	Dallas, Texas	Jim Heth and Bill Burkhart	Cessna 172, The Old Scotchman	Refueled from moving truck on ground	[33][34]
46:20:00:00	August 24 to October 10, 1949	Yuma, Arizona	Bob Woodhouse and Woody Jongeward	Aeronca Sedan, City of Yuma	Attempted to persuade government officials to reopen Yuma Army Air Field	[35]
42:00:02:00	March 15 to April 26, 1949	Fullerton, California	Dick Riedel and Bill Barris	Aeronca Sedan, Sunkist Lady		[36]
30:06:00:00	October 1–30, 1939	Long Beach, California	Wes Carroll and Clyde Schlieper	Piper Cub seaplane, Spirit of Kay		[37][38]
27:05:34:00	June 4 to July 1, 1935	Meridian, Mississippi	Brothers Al and Fred Key	Curtiss Robin, Ole Miss	Invented a spill-free mid-air refueling nozzle	[39]
23:01:41:30	June 11 and July 4, 1930	Chicago, Illinois	Brothers John and Kenneth Hunter	Stinson SM-1 Detroiter		[40]
17:12:17:00	July 13–30, 1929	St. Louis, Missouri	Dale Jackson and Forest O'Brine	Curtiss Robin		[41]
10:06:43:32	July 2–12, 1929	Culver City, California	Loren W. Mendell and Roland B. Reinhart	Buhl Airsedan, Angeleno		[42][43]
07:06:00:00	June 30 to July 6, 1929	Cleveland, Ohio	Roy Mitchell and Byron K. Newcomb	Stinson SM-1 Detroiter named The City of Cleveland	Not recognized as an official record by FAI because it did not exceed previous record by at least 1%.	[44]
07:04:31:01	May 19–26, 1929	Ft. Worth, Texas	Reginald Robbins and James Kelly	Mahoney -Ryan Aircraft Ryan Monoplane B-1 Brougham named Fort Worth		[45]
06:15:40:00	January 1–7, 1929	Van Nuys Airport, California	Maj. Carl Spaatz, Capt. Ira Eaker, 1st Lt. Harry A. Halverson, 2nd Lt. Elwood Quesada, and Sgt. Roy W. Hooe	Atlantic-Fokker C2A named Question Mark		[46]
02:12:07:00	June 1–4, 1928	Tirlemont, Belgium	Louis Crooy and Sgt. Victor Groenen	De Havilland DH-9		[47]
01:13:15:14	August 27–28, 1923	Rockwell Field, California	Capt. Lowell Smith and 1st Lt. John Paul Richter	De Havilland DH-4B	First refueled flight to surpass the non-refueled record	[48]

Airline, scheduled[edit]

Not an FAI category. See Longest Flights

Duration (hhh:mm:ss)

Date

Location

Pilots

Aircraft

Comments

Reference

32:09:00

June 29, 1943 – July 18, 1945[note 1]

Swan River, Nedlands, Western Australia to Lake Koggala, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

several Qantas crews

Qantas Consolidated PBY Catalina

Called "The Double Sunrise" (c.3500 mi.)

271 crossings

[50][49][51]

23:19:00

October 1–2, 1957

London to San Francisco

44 persons (12 crew, 32 passengers). Capt. Gordon Granger and co-pilot Herbert Ottewill[52]

TWA Lockheed Constellation L-1649A, F/N 307 / N7307C

(c.5350 mi.)

[53]

19:36:00

October 21–22, 1936

San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Capt. Edwin Musick, FO Harold Gray, JO M.C. Weber, NAV Fred Noonan + 4 additional flightcrew.[54]

Pan Am Martin M-130 Flying Boat

(c. 2405 mi.)

[55][56][57]

Aeroplane, uncrewed[edit]

FAI does not differentiate between non-refueled and solar aircraft

Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilot	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
64:18:26:00	June 15 - August 23, 2022	Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona	Uncrewed	Airbus Zephyr 8 (Zephyr S)		[58]
25:23:57:00	July 11 - August 8, 2018	Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona	Uncrewed	Airbus Zephyr 8		[59]
18:22:30:00	August 25 - September 13, 2021	Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona	Uncrewed	Airbus Zephyr 8	FAI ratified U-Absolute record	[60][61][62]
14:00:22:08	July 9–23, 2010	Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona	Uncrewed	QinetiQ Zephyr 7	FAI ratified U-Absolute record	[63]
08:00:50:47	September 24 - October 4, 2021	Edwards Air Force Base, California	Uncrewed	Vanilla Unmanned	FAI ratified U-1.8 record	[64][65]
05:01:23:34	October 18–23, 2017	Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia	Uncrewed	Vanilla Aircraft VA001	unofficial	[66]
03:09:24:10	December 5–8, 2014	Rafz, Switzerland	Uncrewed	AtlantikSolar AS-2		[67]
03:08:02:52	July 14–17, 2015	U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake	Uncrewed	Aurora Flight Sciences Orion	FAI ratified Class U-1.f record	[68][69]
02:07:56:14	November 30-December 2, 2016	Las Cruces, New Mexico	Uncrewed	Vanilla Aircraft VA001	FAI ratified Class U-1.c record (retired)	[70][71]
02:06:27:00	July 5–7, 2012	Jelgava, Latvia	Uncrewed	UAV Factory Penguin B	unofficial	[72]
02:00:01:00	April 16–18, 2013	unknown	Uncrewed	US Naval Research Laboratory Ion Tiger UAV	compressed hydrogen gas and fuel cell	[73]
01:06:24:01	March 20–21, 2001	Edwards Air Force Base, California	Uncrewed	Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk	FAI ratified Class U-2.g record (retired)	[74]
01:02:01:00	November 16–17, 2009	Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland	Uncrewed	US Naval Research Laboratory Ion Tiger UAV	compressed hydrogen gas and fuel cell	[75][76]

Helicopter[edit]

Crewed, non-refueled[edit]

Duration (hhh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilot	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
15:08:00	April 6, 1966	Culver City, California to Ormond Beach, Florida (2,213.04 mi)	Robert G. Ferry	Hughes YOH-6A	As a nonstop non-refueled trip this flight also holds the record for the longest distance flown in a helicopter without landing. FAI category: "Great circle distance, without landing".	[77]

Uncrewed[edit]

Duration (hhh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilot	Aircraft	Reference
32:08:00	October 2017	unknown	Uncrewed	Aerovel Flexrotor	[78][79]
22:29:38	Aug 9-10, 2016	unknown	Uncrewed	Latitude HQ-60	[80]
18:41:28	May 15, 2008	Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona	Uncrewed	Boeing A160 Hummingbird	[81]

Free balloon, crewed[edit]

Duration (hhh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilot	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
477:47:00	March 1–21, 1999	Château-d'Œx, Switzerland; circumnavigation	Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones	Breitling Orbiter 3		[82]
355:50:00	June 19 – July 3, 2002	Northam, WA (Australia) circumnavigation	Steve Fossett	Cameron Balloons R-550 (N277SF)	Longest solo flight in any type of aircraft	[83]
268:20:00	July 12–23, 2016	Northam, WA Australia; circumnavigation	Fedor Konyukhov	Cameron Balloons R-550	Shortest time around the world	[84]
82:05:00	September 9–12, 1995	Wil, Switzerland to Lucincik, Ukraine (1.395,4 km)	Johann Fuerstner and Gerald Stuerzlinger	D-OSTZ Graf Zeppelin	3rd place in Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race	[85]

Airship[edit]

Duration (hhh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilot	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
264:12:00	March 4 to March 15, 1957	Naval Air Station South Weymouth, Mass. to Naval Air Station Key West, Fla.	Cmdr. Jack. R. Hunt	"Snowbird" ZPG-2	via Europe, Africa	[86]
95:05:00	November 21 to November 25, 1917	Jambol, Bulgaria to Jambol, Bulgaria	LtCdr. Ludwig Bockholt	L95 (LZ104) Type W Zeppelin	originally destined for the Makonde Plateau, mission aborted at 16° 30′ N, 30° 0′ E, near Khartoum, Sudan after areas fit for landing were captured by British forces	[87]
71:00:00	October 29 to November 1, 1928	Lakehurst, NJ to Friedrichshafen, Germany	Hugo Eckener	LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin		[88]

Glider[edit]

Duration (hhh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Pilot	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
71:05:00	July 28–30, 1961	Honolulu, Hawaii	Geza Vass and Guy Davis			[89]
56:15:00	April 2–4, 1952	Romanin les Alpilles near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France	Charles Atger	Arsenal Air 100		[90]

Space station, crewed[edit]

Duration that a specific person continuously occupies the spacecraft while in orbit.

See Also Timeline of longest spaceflights, List of spaceflight records

Duration (ddd:hh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Astronaut	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
437:17:58:17	January 8, 1994, to March 22, 1995	Low Earth orbit; Baikonur Cosmodrome to near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan	Valeri Polyakov	Russian space station Mir		[91]

Aerospacecraft, orbital, crewed[edit]

Duration (ddd:hh:mm:ss)	Date	Location	Astronaut	Aircraft	Comments	Reference
17:15:53:17	November 19 to December 7, 1996	Low Earth orbit, Kennedy Space Center	Kenneth D. Cockrell, Kent V. Rominger, Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones, and F. Story Musgrave	Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-80		[92]

Notes[edit]

^ Note The "Double Sunrise" route continued to be operated from July 18, 1945 until April 6, 1946 by Qantas Liberators (loaned from BOAC) and Qantas Avro Lancastrians, but with shorter flown distances (departing what is now PER, stopping for refuelling at the RAF base at Minneriya, and landing at what is now CMB) and shorter flight times (faster cruise speeds).[49]

References[edit]

^ Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archived 2011-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Emma Howard, "Solar Impulse lands in Hawaii after longest non-stop solo flight in history ", The Guardian, Friday 3 July 2015 (page visited on 5 July 2015).
^ "8th Leg from Nagoya to Hawaii". Solar Impulse.
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9453 Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9513 Archived 2015-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9515, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9517, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9454, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9451, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9294, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9452, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9317, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9464, accessed August 21, 2010
^ New York Times, December 31, 1921, p. 7
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9455 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ U.S. Air Services, August 1920, p. 36
^ Skytamer, accessed August 21, 2010
^ New York Times, July 13, 1914, p. 3
^ Canada Aviation and Space Museum, p. 54, accessed August 21, 2010
^ History of Aeronautics Archived 2011-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ New International Year Book for 1912, p. 4
^ Jackmon, W.J., Flying Machines: Construction and Operation, 1912, p. 244, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Jeunes Ailes, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Aircraft, February 1911, p. 430
^ a b The Independent, February 16, 1911, p. 347
^ Journal of the United States Artillery, July–August 1910, p. 106
^ New York Times, January 1, 1910, p. 4
^ a b c Centennial of Flight Commission, 1908 Flight Log for Camp d'Auvours, Le Mans, France
^ a b c d Centennial of Flight Commission, 1908 Flight Log for Ft. Myer, Va.
^ a b c d e f Centennial of Flight Commission, 1905 Flight Log for Huffman Prairie, Simms Station, Dayton, Ohio
^ a b c Centennial of Flight Commission, 1904 Flight Log for Huffman Prairie, Simms Station, Dayton, Ohio
^ a b Centennial of Flight Commission, 1903 Flight Log for Kitty Hawk, N.C.
^ a b AOPA Pilot, March 2008
^ "Robinson Library"[Usurped!], May 2017
^ City of Yuma Archived 2006-09-13 at the Wayback Machine, 50th anniversary website with historical documents and pictures
^ City of Fullerton Airport Archived 2015-02-07 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Chicago Daily Tribune, October 30, 1939
^ [1], September 15, 2012
^ Sports Illustrated, November 6, 1972
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9559, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9570, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Time, July 22, 1929
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9571, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Dailey, Franklin. The Triumph of Instrument Flight
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9572, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9573, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 9574, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 14808, accessed August 21, 2010
^ a b "GEOFF GOODALL'S AVIATION HISTORY SITE". www.goodall.com.au. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
^ "Flying boats in the Second World War, 1939–45". History – colonial, conflict and modern. Australian government. 30 October 2016. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
^ Qantas Airways accessed July 4, 2012
^ "Nonstop S.F. London Polar Hop". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, CA. 1957-10-02. p. 1 and 3.
^ "Longer Range, New Routes". 16 September 2019. Retrieved 2020-07-26. Longer Range, New Routes. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
^ "R.F. Bradley's Traveler Tale | National Air and Space Museum". 2021-06-09. Archived from the original on 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
^ "Pan Am Across the Pacific". Pan Am Clipper Flying Boats. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
^ "R.F. Bradley's Traveler Tale | National Air and Space Museum". 2021-06-09. Archived from the original on 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
^ "Glamorous Crossing: How Pan Am Airways Dominated International Travel in the 1930s". 2021-05-13. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
^ "Airbus Zephyr Crashes in Arizona". Overt Defense. 2022-08-20. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
^ "Airbus Zephyr Solar High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite flies for longer than any other aircraft during its successful maiden flight". Airbus. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
^ "Zephyr 2021 Test Flight Campaign Details" (PDF). Airbus Press Release. 11 Oct 2021. Retrieved 29 Aug 2022.
^ "Airbus Zephyr Programme (USA) (19563) | World Air Sports Federation". www.fai.org. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
^ "Airbus Zephyr Programme (USA) (19561) | World Air Sports Federation". www.fai.org. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 16052 Archived 2014-04-04 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Casem, Giancarlo. "Sweet Success: Vanilla Unmanned completes 8-day record flight". Edwards AFB. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ "Vanilla Smashes World Record: >8 days, >12,000 miles, Comms Package". Vanilla Unmanned. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ Black, Patrick (2017-10-26). "Vanilla Aircraft Conducts Record UAS Flight at Wallops". NASA. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
^ "Solar-powered drone breaks record with 81-hour continuous flight (Wired UK)". Wired UK. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
^ Mortimer, Gary. "Aurora Flight Sciences Orion to fly again". SUAS News. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ "Record 17386". Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ "Setting World Endurance Record, Vanilla Aircraft Proves to be Anything but Plain". www.darpa.mil. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
^ "FAI Record Archive". 10 October 2017. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ Rees, Caroline (8 July 2012). "UAV Factory Achieves Record 54-Hour Flight with Penguin B UAV". Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ "Electrically Powered Ion Tiger Drone Set 48 hour Flight Record". 12 May 2013. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 7353, accessed August 21, 2010
^ "Hydrogen-powered fuel cell unmanned air vehicle sets 26-hour flight endurance record". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
^ "ION Tiger". sUAS News - The Business of Drones. 2009-12-01. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
^ "Robert G. Ferry dies at 85; helicopter test pilot flew record nonstop solo flight ", Los Angeles Times, February 9, 2009
^ "Aerovel's unmanned Flexrotor sets VTOL endurance record". 16 October 2017. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ "Aerovel Flexrotor Sets VTOL Endurance Mark". 15 October 2017. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ Atherton, Kelsey. "Drone Sets Record For Longest Flight Time By VTOL Aircraft". Popular Science. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 15059 Archived 2014-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 5961, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 7408, accessed July 15, 2015
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Record 17899, accessed November 17, 2016
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2012-07-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Grossnick, Ross. "Kite Balloons to Airships: The Navy's Lighter than Air Experience," 2004
^ Reinhard Klein-Arendt: "Kamina ruft Nauen!" Die Funkstellen in den deutschen Kolonien 1904-1918. Köln: Wilhelm Herbst Verlag, 1995, 321. ISBN 3-923-925-58-1
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 2427, accessed August 21, 2010
^ "HAWAII: NEW WORLD RECORD FOR TWO-PLACE GLIDER SET". www.itnsource.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-20. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
^ Soaring, May–June 1955, p. 24
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 2512, accessed August 21, 2010
^ Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Record 3915, accessed August 21, 2010

How long can a plane fly for without stopping?

This depends on the size of the plane, its efficiency, and how fast it's flying. A modern Boeing 747 can fly about 15,000 km (9,500 miles) when it's flying at 900 kmh (550 mph). This means it can fly non stop for almost 16 hours!