The world of unmanned aerial vehicles is an arena of a fierce, merciless race for supremacy, where speed is absolutely everything. Two fearless technology enthusiasts literally blew up the notions of what is possible, launching their deeply modified quadcopter to a mind-boggling 733 km / h. This achievement not only leaves the competition breathing their dust, but is now officially knocking on the door of the Guinness Book of Records, bringing the small machine closer to the pace of a passenger plane.
Behind this technological triumph stands an epic story of rivalry and sporting malice, told by the authoritative publication Tom's Hardware. Late last year, the tandem of Aiden and Ben raised the bar high, hitting 626 km/h, but their happiness was short-lived - father-son team Bell snatched the crown from them, improving the record by 30 km/h. However, bruised egos gave birth to a brilliant engineering idea. Aiden and Ben's revenge began with a radical change to their aerial beast, called the Blackbird. They sculpted completely new carbon fiber blades, featuring aggressive serrated edges and an extremely steep, kept in deep secret angle of inclination.
While these carbon innovations unleashed unexpected power, they also brought a serious headache - desperately low lift at liftoff. This led to a monstrous energy hunger during takeoff and landing, which later played a bad joke on the experiment. However, the serrated profile of the propellers worked its magic, creating powerful vortices for additional thrust, which stabilized the air layer and reduced resistance to a minimum. The designers have clearly hit the golden mean in the balance of forces, since too much inclination of the blades can easily turn the propeller into an ordinary kitchen blender, losing all speed.
The first real combat flight of the honed Blackbird proved its hidden potential, reaching 633 km/h. Alas, just then fate decided to play a trick on the team - the drone lost radio contact with the control panel and flew off in an unknown direction, disappearing without a trace. Without losing courage, the next day the guys brought out the spare machine and the last remaining set of propellers. The vagaries of the weather and the fact that the battery had a resource for only two attempts put them on the edge of the razor.
In the first test, aided by a serious tailwind, the devices recorded a cosmic 733 km/h. And although this result is not entirely clean due to the air support, after deducting the wind, the real speed remained an impressive 674 km/h. The second time, flying against the wind, the machine maintained an enviable 640 km/h. Thus, the final average speed of the two runs was 685 km/h - an achievement that easily smudges the previous world record.
However, the drama did not pass without victims. Just before landing, the battery died completely and the drone made an emergency landing, suffering serious but completely repairable damage. As soon as the repairs are complete, the enthusiasts vow to call the official commissaires to seal the record in black and white. Considering that modern passenger liners maintain a cruising speed of about 885 km/h, the evolution of these little gadgets is starting to get downright scary. See more in the video.