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FASTEST RC AIRPLANE IN THE WORLD! Transonic DP -- 545mph!!

sll914
Demos
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2018–2020, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN cites it as the surprising example that the fastest RC aircraft is an unpowered glider using dynamic soaring.

A one-minute clip of Spencer Lisenby setting a 545 mph speed record in an RC glider, the Transonic DP, using dynamic soaring. No motor is involved.

“Here's an RC glider doing 545 mph with that technique” (HN, 2020)

3 citations · Demos

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@bufferoverflow Aug 2018 Cites it
on HN thread What can defend against off-the-shelf drone weapons?
It's worse, actually. There are motoless gliders that fly up to 545 mph, and then there are tiny jet planes that go up to 465 mph. You can jam the signal, but as soon as someone can put an autonomous vision system on them, it will become an extremely powerful weapon. You don't even need an explosive at these speeds, it can cut your target in half [this video]
RC glider reaching 545 mph as an example of weapon potential.
@darkpuma Mar 2019 Cites it
on HN thread The SR-71 Spy Plane Was So Fast, It Outran Every Missile Fired at It
Read more
There are some (mostly Brazilians) who would disqualify the Wright Flyer as the first airplane on the grounds that it took off from a rail. Is the engine breathing air really an essential part of the "airplane" definition? Solar Impulse 2 didn't breath air either, yet wasn't it an airplane too? @DuskStar It's certainly a glider on reentry. Now, most speed records for planes are "in level flight" which would disqualify the shuttle during reentry. But if we ignore that it's interesting that the speed record for manned aircraft is held by a glider, and the speed records for RC aircraft are also held by gliders! [this video]
RC speed record held by a glider.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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