One Ironman Predator B RPA sets endurance Record 20,000 Flying Hours - Times of San Diego

MQ-9 Predator B

Single Predator Drone Tallies Record 20,000 Flying Hours - Times of San Diego


Single Predator B RPA Amasses 20,000 Flight Hours

Single Predator B RPA Amasses 20,000 Flight Hours


Total GA-ASI Predator B Deliveries Nears 230 [average flight time 3,500 hours]


SAN DIEGO 12 January 2015 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI),  today announced that a Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper RPA has reached a record 20,000 flight hours on a single
aircraft, signifying the highest flight time of any Predator B. The milestone was achieved while performing a 17-hour combat mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on December 23.


 "Accumulating 20,000 hours on a lone Predator B airframe is a major engineering milestone that can be traced back to our talented and resourceful GA-ASI Engineering team, who continues to develop highly resilient, reliable, and affordable platforms that continue to keep warfighters safe every day overseas," said Linden P. Blue, CEO, GA-ASI.


The record-breaking aircraft flew its first flight on January 31, 2008 and has accumulated 1,355 flights, with almost 100-percent of those flights having been flown in direct support of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).

Predator B Fleet has accumulated impressive endurance statistics

RPAs meet mission goals safe and on time > U.S. Air Force > Article Display

With a mishap rate of 3.23 losses per 100,000 hours flown [average flight time between mishaps, 31,000 hours], the MQ-1B Predator, RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper aircraft mishap rates are a
fraction of accident rates in general aviation aircraft. The NTSB's most recent review of general aviation found an mishap rate of more than 12 per 100,000 hours flown [an average of 8,333 hours flight time between mishaps].


Predator B ER Conducts First Long-Range Endurance Flight

the mission-proven Predator B RPA fleet has accumulated over 800,000 flight hours since first flight in 2001.[113,932 hours since first flight, means an average of 7 RPA have been flying at any time somewhere on the globe continuously. Total mishaps about 26 over that time.]