Developed by Insitu and Environmental Systems and Services under primary sponsorship from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the Aerosonde was designed for meteorological research and long-range environmental monitoring. Laima weighed just 29 pounds, with a 10-foot wingspan and a single-cylinder piston engine sipping less than two gallons of aviation fuel for the entire crossing. After taking off from Bell Island, Newfoundland, on the morning of August 20, 1998, the aircraft flew beyond radio communication range within minutes, navigating entirely by onboard GPS and autopilot along a pre-programmed flight path. Engineers regained contact near the Scottish coast and assumed manual control for the final landing on South Uist.