Afternoon, April 27th, in the Big 2025. A gentle breeze offered relief from the blistering sun that was gradually revealing itself as the clouds dissipated. SSFE’s caravan of cars and trucks pulled up one by one at the scene: The runway at Rellis Airfield, which once hosted the US Air Force.
SSFE’s caravan of cars and trucks pulled up one by one at the scene: The runway at Rellis Airfield, which once hosted the US Air Force. Today, it would witness SSFE’s inaugural flight of the aircraft named Miles Mk.1.
SSFE’s first ever radio-controlled aircraft, the Miles Mk. 1, took off from the Rellis Airfield Runway in Bryan, TX at 5:00 PM CST.
The Mk. 1 flew two racetrack-style laps performing 4 banked turns 80 ft away from the ground pilot, accelerating through the straightaways in between.
Our first-ever aircraft set the baseline for which SSFE will proceed to design and innovate from. The aircraft, Miles Mk. 1, successfully took off and completed two laps in the air achieving a top airspeed of 71 mph while generating 9.1 lbs of thrust via an electric propeller before successfully landing.
This achievement will be the motivation for Project 2 where we intend to improve propulsive efficiency, optimize structural integrity while minimizing our 11 lb aircraft weight, and surpass our baseline speed record.
