5 August 2008
The bubble-canopied Edgley Optica was once the talk of the UK aviation industry. Sadly, it then disappeared for a number of years, but is now to be back on the scene.
In the Summer 2008 issue of <i><b>FLYER</b></i> (on sale now!) we have the news that John Edgley and his AeroElvira company have bought the rights to the Trago Mills/FLS SAH-1 Sprint. We also mentioned that Edgley had re-acquired the rights to the Optica, which he himself designed back in the 1970s.
Edgley now says that he has the jigs and tools needed for the production of the Optica, as well as three of the aircraft themselves. The first of these, G-BOPO, is now flying again.
The Optica is an observation platform aircraft – regularly described as a fixed wing aircraft with helicopter characteristics. It has short take-off and landing capability and can fly at slow speeds while retaining good manoeuvrablitity. It claims to have a low noise footprint and low emissions.
Designed in the late 1970s, the Optica was in production in the UK in the early 1980s, but a crash of a prototype and arson at the factory meant that it presence in the UK all but ceased. Since then a few examples have been flying in the US and Australia.
AeroElvira hopes to have its example of the Optica flying at the Neville Duke Fly-in at Compton Abbas on 17 August, followed by an appearance at Sywell a week later.
