A CHINESE university research team has set a Guinness record for the longest flight duration of an ornithopter, an unmanned aircraft that flies by flapping its mechanical wings. Built by researchers and students from Beihang University, the birdlike machine flew continuously for 1 hour 30 minutes and 4.98 seconds. A recent video shows the record-setting flight (on a single charge) that took place in an open ground in Beijing on July 21. The university unveiled the Guinness World Records certificate at its press release. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, the flapper drone weighs 1.6 kilogram, has a wingspan of 2 meters and is capable of flying at a speed of 10 meters per second. Zhao Longfei, an associate researcher at the university’s Research Institute for Frontier Science and a member of the research team, says the team applied for the Guinness challenge in October 2021. The Guinness institution agrees to make it a record if Beihang’s ornithopter can fly continuously for more than 1 hour on a charge. The previous flying durations of ornithopters worldwide were short, most of which lasted just around half an hour, significantly behind other types of conventional aircraft, so there was no world record for it, Zhao adds. During previous flight tests, the Chinese aircraft lasted just 53 minutes. With an optimized power system and wing dynamics, the gadget saw its performance soar, able to create the world record.(Xinhua) | 