Facebook reaches unmanned milestone

22nd July 2016 - 12:19 GMT | by Beth Maundrill in London

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Social media giant Facebook has completed the first full-scale test flight of its high-altitude UAV, Aquila, the company announced on 21 July.

The test flight allowed engineers to complete a functional check which was conducted at low-altitude, the Aquila at this stage had flown for 96 minutes.

‘The original mission was to fly for 30 minutes, but the flight was going so well we opted to extend it and Aquila stayed in the air for more than three times that long,’ a statement made by Facebook said.

At the test flight cruise altitude of 2,150ft, above sea level, the Aquila

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Beth Maundrill

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Beth is Deputy Editor - Land at Shephard Media, managing coverage across all formats of …

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