Airfoil Data
E863

The EPPLER 863 STRUT AIRFOIL is a thick 17.9% chord-thickness airfoil with a maximum camber of 8.9% at 29% chord, suited to high-lift UAV wings, RC sailplanes, and low-Reynolds-number slow-flyers. At zero angle of attack the cambered geometry generates positive lift, giving an estimated zero-lift angle of -8.9°.

Thin airfoil theory predicts a stall angle near 9.5° and a peak lift-to-drag ratio around 76 at typical UAV and light-aircraft Reynolds numbers — useful benchmarks before running a full XFOIL or NeuralFoil polar. The 18% thickness provides structural depth for main-spar placement without excessive drag penalty at moderate speeds.

Designers evaluating the E863 typically compare it against profiles of similar thickness: HAM-STD HS1-430 AIRFOIL, FX 77-W-270S, FX 77-W-270, GOE 572 AIRFOIL, GOE 244 (MVA PR.4) AIRFOIL. The RAF 6 AIRFOIL is another reference profile frequently considered alongside it.