Solar drone with jumbo jet wingspan broke a flight record—then it crashed

The Skydweller drone was last visible on the flight-tracking service Flight Radar 24 north of Cancun, Mexico, in the early morning hours of May 4. The company described the drone as eventually performing a “controlled water ditching” around 6:30 am Eastern Time, but the aircraft “subsequently sank due to its non-buoyant composite structure.” By the time it went under, the Skydweller drone had performed a record-breaking, solar-powered flight of eight days and 14 minutes—longer than any previous …