For a drone company that just broke cover in May, SiFly has certainly gone from strength to strength in 2025. Its latest achievement came on Orville Wright's birthday, when the company's Q12 drone soared into the most famous record book in the world.
Clocking a flight that lasted 3 hours, 11 minutes, and 53 seconds, Sifly officially nabbed the Guinness World Record for the longest electric-powered drone flight in the 5-20 kg weight class on July 26, 2025 at Amaral Ranches in California. That's about an hour longer than the previous benchmark, said the company in a press release.
The company's flagship Q12 drone attained the record after flying in a 600-meter-wide (1,969-foot-wide) orbit at about 50 meters (164 ft) in altitude autonomously at around 50 km/h (31 mph), reported Flying magazine. You can see it showing off in the following video from SiFly.
The achievement was observed by eight witnesses including NASA aerospace engineer, Chris Silva, and Apple engineer Paul Baker.
"This world record goes far beyond endurance – it signals a fundamental shift in what's possible for drones," said Brian Hinman, Founder & CEO of SiFly. "We believe this achievement will inspire a new wave of innovation, transforming drones from niche devices into essential tools."
As we've previously reported, SiFly is no stranger to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in drone technology. The Q12 boasts 4X longer, 10X further, 10X quieter flying times, along with 5X the payload capacity of other electric drones in its class, and a price that can compete with China's offerings. It achieves its industry-leading metrics through a few different powerful tweaks to traditional drone design including larger-diameter rotors and the ability to use bigger batteries that are the same as you'd find in electric vehicles: lithium-ion 21700 cells.
The result is a helicopter-like vehicle that comes with the vastly more affordable economics of drones.
SiFly says its longer flying times puts it in good stead to take advantage of the new FAA regulations that are now being considered as part of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Part 108 Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS). This would replace the need to get special exceptions for long-distance drone routes for things like package delivery and agriculture, instead making them legal and routine.
You can learn a lot more about the Q12 through our interview early this year with SiFly's Chief Strategy Officer, David Mazar.
Source: SiFly
