| |
 |
First unmanned plane crosses ocean
|
A ROBOTIC US spy plane became the first unmanned aircraft to cross the Pacific Ocean, cruising out of the night sky to touch down on Monday at an Australian air force base.
The Air Force's Global Hawk drone arrived at the base outside the southern city of Adelaide at 8.41pm, completing the 8,600-mile trip 14 minutes ahead of schedule.
After taking off from Edwards Air Force Base in California before dawn on Sunday, the spy plane flew at 65,000 feet, well above other air traffic and the nasty weather that plagues the Pacific. Ground crews in Australia monitored the flight but did not control it as the plane followed a preprogrammed route.
The awkward-looking plane resembles a killer whale, thanks to a bulbous nose that hides an antenna four feet in diameter. On takeoff, the Global Hawk's mammoth wings - longer than a Boeing 737's - droop under 15,000 pounds of fuel that accounts for 60 per cent of the aircraft's weight. The plane's distinctive V-shaped tail frames the Rolls-Royce engine that straddles its fuselage.
Having landed in Australia, the plane will now take part in combined military exercises over the following six weeks.
The US Air Force named the plane the ``Southern Cross II'' to honour the first aircraft to fly from the United States to Australia. The original Southern Cross, a three-engine Fokker that departed from Oakland, California, and its crew made the trip in several legs in 1928.
|
|
|
|
