Blog · Procurement and Selection Guides
How to Compare Loaded Endurance
Endurance figures are only comparable when the load behind them is the same. Almost every published number omits it, which is why two honest specifications can differ by half.
Overview
- Ask for the payload mass the endurance was measured at, and for the same aircraft's endurance at your payload. An unloaded figure tells you nothing about your sortie.
- Separate hover from cruise. A multirotor burns far more power holding position than flying forward, and inspection work is mostly holding position.
- Fix the reserve rule. Whether the figure ends at a battery reserve of 10, 20 or 30 per cent changes the usable number more than most airframe differences do.
- State the atmosphere: wind, temperature and altitude. Cold reduces available capacity, wind raises power demand, and both are usually excluded from the headline.
- Write the definition into the RFQ — take-off to landing, at payload X, in wind up to Y, at Z degrees, with N per cent reserve. If a supplier cannot quote against that, the comparison is not possible.
Montline publishes endurance only with payload, wind, temperature and reserve stated. Where a figure depends on configuration, it is marked as configuration-dependent rather than filled in.
Related pages
- Industrial MultirotorView
- Heavy-Lift and Civil LogisticsView
- Production StrengthView
- Development Testing and DeliveryView
More in this area
- Enterprise Drone Procurement ChecklistRead
- How to Compare Loaded EnduranceThis page
- How to Compare Payload CapacityRead
- Evaluating Total System CostRead
- Choosing an Imaging PayloadRead
- How to Assess Supplier DocumentationRead
- Checking Test Reports and Their ScopeRead
- Comparing After-sales and Training ProgramsRead
- How to Organize Equipment AcceptanceRead
- What to Provide for an Overseas Project QuoteRead