A college student in the United States says his homemade jet-powered aircraft has reached a speed that would surpass the recognized record for a radio-controlled jet model. However, the flight has not been independently verified, so the claim remains unofficial.
Tomas Salvo, an aerospace engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, says his aircraft, named Reaper, reached 491 mph (790 km/h) during a test flight on October 30. He shared footage and details of the flight on social media, attracting widespread attention from aviation and engineering enthusiasts.
A high-speed aircraft built by a student
According to Salvo, Reaper reached its reported top speed while carrying a payload weighing 2.6 pounds (1.2 kilograms). He also says the aircraft can maintain that speed for around four minutes on a full tank.
The aircraft reportedly weighs about 11 pounds (5 kilograms). Its construction combines a custom carbon-fiber shell with a laser-cut internal structure. It uses a 250-newton turbojet engine fitted with a custom 3D-printed titanium nozzle.
Salvo says the aircraft can launch from a rail or a truck, climb to around 6,500 feet (1,981 meters) in less than 20 seconds, and travel approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) at its reported top speed. These performance figures come from his own account and have not been independently confirmed.
The previous record remains officially recognized
The speed Salvo reports would exceed the Guinness World Records benchmark for the fastest remote-controlled jet-powered model aircraft. German pilot Niels Herbrich achieved the recognized record of 749.221 km/h (465.544 mph) in August 2017.
That record followed a measured attempt witnessed by aircraft experts. Guinness World Records said the speed was measured over a 200-meter course in two directions, with the results averaged.
Reaper’s reported 491 mph would be faster than that benchmark. However, no independent timing or official ratification has been publicly documented for Salvo’s flight. It is therefore too early to describe the result as a confirmed world record.
The next challenge: breaking the sound barrier
Salvo has said he wants to continue testing Reaper and push its speed beyond 500 mph (805 km/h). He is also interested in the Boom Prize, a competition offering an $800,000 award for an eligible amateur-built aircraft to break the sound barrier under the contest’s rules.
At a claimed 491 mph, Reaper remains below the commonly cited sea-level speed of sound, approximately 767 mph (1,234 km/h). Reaching that threshold would require a substantial increase in speed, as well as meeting the competition’s other requirements.
For now, Reaper is an ambitious student engineering project with a striking performance claim. Whether it has set a new record will depend on independent verification of its speed.
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