Team Roadrunner, a Nevada-based drone consortium, says it set a record for long-distance drone delivery last week in Texas. The team’s fixed-wing drone flew more than 97 miles on May 5, during a circuitous trip that headed southward from Austin and then returned. Visual observers and a mobile command-and-control center guided the drone through the flight corridor using cellular communication links. Chris Walach, director of the FAA-designated Nevada Unmanned Aerial System Test Site, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the drone delivered a 4-pound package with a machine part. Such test flights are aimed at developing drone control systems that Amazon and other companies could soon use to make routine deliveries.
