I'm trying to figure out the range of something like this. This is Hans Litjens' jet, he talks a bit more about it here[1], noting that it has 2L of fuel in the wings.
I found one source that estimates that normal RC jet engines use 250ml/minute. If we assume that this thing uses 2x of a "normal" RC jet engine, at 350mph it could go about 23 miles in 4-minutes before running out of fuel. Or, from the border to just south of Del Mar.
With that kind of range and speed, it seems like it'd be reasonable to avoid detection.
Why do you figure it would use 2x the fuel of a 'normal' RC Jet engine? Edit - anyhow you're right on the consumption of this engine: 476 mL/minute. Still though, would be out of the feds' sight before they realize what's even going on. At night they'd never have a clue.
RC Jets are fast as hell; over 200 mph is very common for turbine powered RC planes.
> Why do you figure it would use 2x the fuel of a 'normal' RC Jet engine?
Because I have no idea what I'm talking about estimating fuel consumption in RC jet engines, and "2x" seemed like a reasonable guess? Looks like I wasn't too far off.
I wonder how much adding a payload would affect that, and what the max weight is including possibly larger fuel tanks and a cargo payload.
I would guess that the range of such a device would be horribly short. The smaller the aircraft, the worse the range, in general, and the smaller a gas turbine, the worse its efficiency. Those should combine to give a truly awful range, but surprisingly somehow enough to be useful in this situation.
I doubt anyone at the border is prepared to handle a RC plane like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTHWBSluUjU