The new record was set during the drone's test flight in the town of Chernogolovka in the Moscow Region, which lasted three hours and 10 minutes amid gusty winds and pouring rain.
"A Russian drone breaks a world record for flight duration", according to this tweet.
Российский беспилотник бьёт мировой рекорд по длительности полета (+ФОТО, ВИДЕО)
— Русская Весна (@Rusvesna1) 22 апреля 2016 г.
Октокоптер https://t.co/sBEAW7SLqI pic.twitter.com/u9zYh1D6XK
Despite these flying conditions, the 12-kilogram drone changed altitude and transmitted images and video to a ground-based control center, Izvestia said, citing NELK's executive director Igor Vasilevsky as saying that the octocopter's payload stands at 0.5 kilograms.
"The octocopter is equipped with a power-supply unit with hydrogen-air fuel elements which helped the drone establish a world flight endurance record during cold weather conditions and high humidity," he added.
The newspaper also said that in artificial weather conditions, namely, when flying in a hangar, the Russian octocopter could fly for four hours and 20 minutes. The world record in this field currently belongs to a Canadian-made drone, which hovered in the air for three hours and 43 minutes.
