For ‘days’? Try for months.

Have you ever been through Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas? Look up sometime at baggage claim and you’ll see the airplane that holds (and has held for more than 65 years) the world record for the longest continuous flight by a crewed powered aircraft:

On the afternoon of December 4, 1958, the heavily-modified Cessna 172 took off from what was then called McCarran Field with two pilots. It finally landed on February 7, 1959. The two pilots took turns flying the aircraft. It ranged as far west as Los Angeles and as far south as Yuma but mostly flew long loops over the Mojave south and west of Las Vegas. Twice daily – 128 times in total – it refueled (and took on food/water/oil/filters/etc. via winch) on remote desert roads, as shown here:

64 days — 22 hours — 19 minutes

By the time they finally landed mechanical problems with the aircraft had begun to multiply and the engine was way past its required inspection/maintenance time. Both man and machine had reached their limits. They had flown approximately 150,000 miles total.

Co-pilot John Cook likened the experience to being locked in a garbage can with a continuously running vacuum eating chopped up food out of a thermos, which perhaps explains why no one has yet surpassed the feat, which really puts the endurance in endurance record.