The history of transatlantic aviation reached a new milestone Monday when a 4.9-kilogram model airplane completed a 3,040-kilometre flight from Cape Spear, Nfld., to Ireland.

It is the first successful Atlantic crossing by a "true" model airplane, according to the group of enthusiasts from Maryland who built and launched the aircraft.

Maynard Hill, a retired metallurgist from Maryland who has set a number of model-airplane records, launched the aircraft he had designed just after 10 p.m. on Saturday night from Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America.

The craft — 1.8-metres long, with an almost matching wingspan — landed 38˝ hours later at Mannin Beach in western Ireland, just over 10 metres from where it was expected to land, said Joe Foster, a member of the team that worked on the project for five years.

"It made it, and that was the goal," Mr. Foster told globeandmail.com, adding that the plane is reported to be in excellent condition and could be refuelled and flown again.

"I think [this record] will be incredibly difficult to break," he added.

The team waited on "pins and needles" Monday morning to hear whether the plane, named the Spirit of Butts Farm, had landed safely, he said. After the craft did not get the tail winds that had been expected, the team worried that it might run out of fuel.

"We calculated enough fuel for 38 hours," Mr. Foster said, adding that the plane had just 51.1 millilitres of fuel remaining when it landed — enough for about 40 more minutes of flight. "It was real close."

The aircraft, named after Beecher Butts, a long-time aviation enthusiast, weighed just under five kilograms at takeoff and about 2.6 kilograms when it landed.

After guiding the model airplane to its cruising altitude, Mr. Hill put the plane on autopilot and waited anxiously for it to make its journey. The plane was equipped with GPS to guide it to its destination.

The plane flew across the ocean at an altitude of about 300 metres, said Carl Layden, a Newfoundland modeler connected with the project.

The hobby's governing body, Fédération Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), will have to verify that the plane set a world record for straight-line distance by a "true" model airplane.

Monday's record is the 25th record that Mr. Hill has broken, Mr. Foster said. A model airplane enthusiast all his life, Mr. Hill is now in his late 70s and is considered both legally blind and hearing impaired. In order to keep building his planes, he now dyes his glue red so he can see it.

"He is to model aviation what Gordie Howe is to hockey," Mr. Layden told globeandmail.com.

Mr. Hill was "totally overwhelmed with emotion" when he learned of Monday's successful landing.

He had tried the transatlantic flight four times before.