Reviews
I’ve travelled in plenty of aircraft in my time, from commercial jets to Hercules transporters to Chinook helicopters over Afghanistan. But nothing quite prepared me for the experience of flying in the Edgley Optica.
Verdant Hampshire stretches out below, a patchwork quilt of fields and farms. The Optica spy-plane, with its distinctive “bug-like” glass canopy, affords a panoramic view of the horizon and countryside. With a simple pitch to the left or right, it’s easy to zero in on and track an object below on the ground.
The aircraft might typically scan the ground at a height of 1,000ft and speeds of around 100 knots and is designed to carry cameras and other surveillance equipment.
The three-seater observation plane, which is powered by a single Lycoming 260hp engine and ducted fan design, is an example of British engineering creativity that has sadly been underexploited commercially. The plane, which flew for the first time at the end of the 1970s, has never been successfully manufactured in volume.
John Edgley, the aeronautical engineer who developed the aircraft, still hopes to see the plane manufactured in numbers, but has virtually given up on seeing it done in the UK. He is intending to license the design for manufacture to other firms and is currently in negotiations with “five parties” in an effort to secure a deal. But the conversations are taking place with companies in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
You have to admire Edgley’s tenacity because the project has had its setbacks – including a crash that killed two Hampshire police officers flying the aircraft in 1985 – and ownership of the design has changed hands several times.
Edgley has poured a lot of his own money into the project and now runs it with a small group of enthusiastic engineers. For all of them, it is a labour of love. A sister aircraft, the Sprint, which could be used for training purposes, is also ready for production. Edgley hopes that the Optica will be used for observation operations by the police and fire services and perhaps also for onshore pipeline inspection. One of the key selling points is that the fixed-wing design is said to be easier to fy and maintain than a helicopter, cutting down on maintenance costs.
Clive Davidson, the pilot who took me up in the Optica, is a big fan of the design. “I’ve flown more than 150 types of aircraft, from replica Sopwith Camels to fighters,” he says. ”The Optica is a pilot’s aeroplane – it’s great fun to fly.”
Whether this remarkable example of British innovation ever truly takes off remains to be seen.