Impossible Aerospace has announced that its US-1 “flying battery” quadcopter is the first aircraft of its kind to cross the northern Nevada desert without recharging.

The feat was accomplished on Aug. 6 during repeated 72-minute flights across the playa.

“The US-1 is the first major breakthrough in drone performance since the introduction of the quadcopter,” says Spencer Gore, CEO.

“More importantly, is the first battery-electric aircraft to rival the performance of a conventionally powered system.”

Impossible Aerospace says that an unmodified production US-1 was used during the flight. Carrying a FLIR Duo Pro R camera and HD video transmitter, the US-1 flew distances of 29 and 21 miles respectively, with and against the prevailing winds.

According to Impossible Aerospace, other aircraft have flown similar distances, but what made this flight unique was that the US-1 uses propellers instead of wings to fight gravity, which requires more energy per mile but allows the aircraft to hover in place.

The Aug. 6 flight was planned to avoid operations over people and protected wilderness areas. Conducted under 14 CFR 107.25, the flight had a pilot operating as a passenger of a moving vehicle over a sparsely populated area maintaining visual line of sight to the aircraft.

“The ultimate vision of Impossible Aerospace is to build long-range electric aircraft that carry goods and people around the world, emissions free,” Gore says.

“But electrification changes literally everything about an aircraft, and many of these changes will take years to prove safe enough for passenger transport. In the meantime, we believe it's prudent to push the envelope of electric aircraft using unmanned aircraft, and to advance drone regulations by piloting use cases that save lives.”

Impossible Aerospace notes that the US-1 has seen “strong commercial traction” with government and enterprise customers. The day before the flights, the city of San Pablo, California announced plans to purchase three US-1 aircraft for its police department to use. The following week, SeekOps, a gas detection company, announced it would integrate with US-1.