Farthest flight by an unmanned aircraft (FAI-approved)

The greatest distance covered by an uncrewed aircraft in a single flight (without aerial refuelling) is 13,219.86 km (8,214.44 mi). This was achieved by a Northrop-Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk named Southern Cross II on 23 April 2001. The uncrewed aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA, at 4:48 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) on 22 April 2001 and touched down at RAAF Base Edinburgh in Adelaide, South Australia, at 8:41 p.m. (Australian Central Standard Time; 02:11 Pacific Daylight Time) the following day, 23 hours 23 minutes later.

Southern Cross II (named after the aircraft that made the first crossing of the Pacific in 1928) made the trip at a cruising altitude of 65,000 ft (19,812 m), more than 25,000 ft higher than commercial flights and safely above the turbulent weather of the tropics.

The Northrop-Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is a long-endurance high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. It is designed to be able to fly around 1,930 km (1,200 miles) to a location, loiter over the area for up to 24 hours, then fly back without refuelling.