Oklahoma State Students Set Flight Record

Sunday, July 2nd 2006, 2:33 pm

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) _ Two aerospace engineering students at Oklahoma State University have broken a world flight endurance record for lightweight, electric-powered aircraft.

Undergraduate students Dustin Gamble and Thomas Hays guided the Dragonfly on a flight that lasted 12 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds. The previous record for electric-powered aircraft weighing less than five kilograms was 10 hours, 38 minutes and 3 seconds. A group from Switzerland set that record back in 1998.

The Dragonfly's record flight will not be sanctioned until the university submits a detailed dossier to the an international aviation federation.

Without its batteries, the plane weighs less than four pounds and is made of composite material, fiberglass, balsa wood and carbon fiber. It has an 8-foot fuselage and a 14-foot wingspan.