Nephele I was the original aircraft made for ACC 2017, but it never participated in it. Its improved version, Nephele II was the one that did. Nephele I was designed for high repairability and constructed with low cost materials. That’s why all of its parts were handmade by members of the team. Its first flight was in February of 2017, and it flied two times in total.
The experience and knowledge the team gathered from the study and construction of this aircraft was valuable and helped them in the successful construction of Nephele II and other future UAVs.
Technical characteristics:
- Wingspan: 2.42 m
- Wing Area: 1 m2
- Aspect Ratio (AR): 5.856
- Airfoil: S1223
- Length: 2 m
- Powerplant: AXI Gold 2826/10
- Propeller: APC 13×7 Sport
- Power: 740 W
- Empty Weight: 5.3 kg
- Payload: 2 kg
- Take-off Weight: 7.3 kg
- Cruise Speed: 12 m/s
- Stall Speed: 9 m/s
- Maiden Flight: 17/02/2017
- Tail configuration:
- Aft conventional tail
