In this paper, we propose a height-dependency shaping parameter (m) and a heightdependency path-loss exponent for modelling small-scale Nakagami-m fading and a large-scale path-loss model for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted network coded cooperation (UA-NCC) system. The statistical parameters such as mean, variance, and probability density function (PDF) of the total noise component (TNC) are analyzed for the proposed system model to achieve the error free communication. We derive spectral efficiency, throughput, and a closed-form outage probability for the UA-NCC system by considering height-dependency shaping parameter (m) and the height-dependency path-loss exponent among ground-to-air (G2A) and air-to-ground (A2G) links, and Rayleigh channel distribution among ground users. The analytical result is validated with simulation results and compared it with the existing work (Rayleigh and Rician fading channel distribution). However, the better performance in the case of the proposed work comes over the existing state-of-the-art (Rayleigh and Rician fading distribution environment) after a UAV height of 10 m.INDEX TERMS UAV, Network coded cooperation, Nakagami-m channel, Rician and Rayleigh channel, Outage probability, Spectral efficiency, Throughput.