At 14:10 on January 2, a drone carrying 60 Party newspapers and periodicals took off from the mail center of Panzhihua Postal Branch in Sichuan, and landed at Gonghe township of Yanbian county in Panzhihua after 57 minutes and more than 70 kilometers of flight. This marks that the trial flight of the drone taking off and landing at different sites has succeeded on the first domestic high-plateau drone route for low-altitude logistics.

Gonghe township is located in a remote area. The land mail route from the mail center of Panzhihua to Gonghe township is 200 kilometers long, and mostly rugged mountain roads. It usually takes 9 hours to cover the whole route.

The trial flight was carried out by a VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) fixed-wing drone. With a wingspan of 3.3 meters, a maximum range of 500 kilometers, an endurance of 6 hours and a maximum take-off weight of 26 kg, the drone can carry all kinds of mail items and perform unmanned delivery tasks in remote areas. And this trial flight has set two new records in China with its round-trip journey of nearly 150 kilometers and the flight altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level.