Young drone company SiFly scores world flight endurance record
By DRONELIFE Features Editor Jim Magill
Seeking to capitalize on the anticipated boom in market opportunities for long-range UAV operations, California-based SiFly, a brand-new drone manufacturer, on August 19 announced it has set a new world record for flight endurance by a small electrically powered multi-rotor drone.
The company’s Q12 prototype quadcopter recently completed a three-hour, 11-minute flight at Amaral Ranches in California’s Salinas Valley, to secure a Guinness World Record, beating the former record by almost an hour.
“This world record goes far beyond endurance—it signals a fundamental shift in what’s possible for drones,” SiFly Founder and CEO Brian Hinman said in a statement. “With helicopter-level performance at drone economics, the Q12 creates entirely new markets, redefining industry expectations.”
In a video commemorating the achievement, Hinman said SiFly is positioning itself to take advantage of an expected increase in demand for drones capable of extended-duration flights, brought on as a result of the FAA’s proposed Part 108 regulation.
Earlier this month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which is expected to enable the commercial drone industry to conduct routine long-duration BVLOS operations.
“Up until now, most drones have been used in visual line of sight applications, short distances flying for 20 or 30 minutes. But now with the introduction of Part 108 regulations, we now have a framework for flying beyond visual line of sight,” Hinman said.
He added that future a number of drone missions would likely be accomplished not with the aid of a visual observer, but by UAVs connected with the cloud via 5G, as is the case with the Q12.
“In this way, we have to rethink how you build drones. So instead of having drones that fly for 20 or 30 minutes, our mission with SiFly has been developing the technology that allows us to fly for hours,” he said.
SiFly’s patented Q12 system deploys a next-generation vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone designed to accomplish long-duration hover flights along with long-range forward flight operations. Featuring a modular, all-electric architectural design, the aircraft has the capacity to carry a 10-pound payload with a flight range of 90 miles.
The Q12’s ability to fly for an extended period of time on a single battery charge allows the aircraft to maintain a continuous hover for two hours or conduct a single straight-line three-hour flight, Hinman said.
“We think within a year we’re going to be able to fly for four hours. And we think that this is going to be very important for our customers, especially for our customers that are in missions such as drone first responder, search and rescue and fire,” he said.
The record-setting flight, which took place on July 26, was conducted under strict conditions in order to meet the Guinness World Records’ rigorous validation requirements. Eight official witnesses — including Paul Baker, Distinguished Engineer at Apple and Chris Silva, research aerospace engineer at NASA Ames — were on hand to document the flight. Tina Shi, an official adjudicator with Guinness World Reports, certified the world record achievement.
With the record-breaking performance of its Q12 prototype, SiFly plans to introduce a new category of vertical takeoff, long-endurance aerial vehicles to create a new drone market niche. On the one hand these UAVs would compete with the market demand for light helicopters, but at a fraction of the cost and operational burden of traditional helicopters. At the same time, SiFly says its products will fill a more traditional drone need that calls for vehicles capable of providing a persistent aerial presence, such as for drone as first responder (DFR) programs, large-scale surveying and extended infrastructure inspections.
SiFly is the new kid on the block among U.S.-based drone manufacturers. It officially exited stealth mode in May with the launch of its Q12 and Q250 drones. Since then, the market response has demonstrated the demand for long-endurance autonomous drones. “SiFly secured pre-orders and LOIs [letters of intent] for hundreds of Q12 units, driven by strong interest from public safety, infrastructure inspection, mapping and agriculture customers, ahead of initial deliveries planned for early 2026,” the company statement says.
“Our growing order book already validates that customers see the value. We believe this achievement will inspire a new wave of innovation, transforming drones from niche devices into essential tools,” Hinman said.
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Jim Magill is a Houston-based writer with almost a quarter-century of experience covering technical and economic developments in the oil and gas industry. After retiring in December 2019 as a senior editor with S&P Global Platts, Jim began writing about emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robots and drones, and the ways in which they’re contributing to our society. In addition to DroneLife, Jim is a contributor to Forbes.com and his work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, U.S. News & World Report, and Unmanned Systems, a publication of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
