Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Three-seat light observation aircraft

Power Plant:

One 194 kw (260 hp) Avco Lycoming IO-540-V4A5D six-cylinder horizontally- opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

Designed by John Edgley in 1974, and built by Edgley Aircraft Ltd in the United Kingdom, the Optica was a three-seat light touring aircraft, construction of the prototype beginning in 1976 after extensive work in a wind tunnel. It received some development and was offered as an observation type aircraft. Production aircraft were aimed at the civil market for pipeline and powerline inspection, traffic surveillance, forestry, coastal and frontier patrol, aerial photography, etc, with the ability to carry out these tasks at a loiter speed of 92 km/h (57 mph) but at a third of the operating cost of a helicopter.

The type was initially offered with either the 149 kw (200 hp) Lycoming IO-360 or the 156 kw (210 hp) Lycoming TIO-360 turbocharged engine driving what was called a “propulsor unit” which formed a power pod separate from the main shroud, mounted downstream of a five-blade fixed-pitch fan with a low propeller-tip speed which kept the aircraft noise friendly. Seating was provided for three-abreast in the cabin, but with the ability to carry two stretchers in lieu of the two passenger seats.

The prototype flew on 14 December 1979 and production deliveries began in mid 1983. The manufacturer obtained funding from a number of City of London institutions and purchased Old Sarum airfield near Salisbury from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, setting up a production line, initial plans covering 200 aircraft.

In 1982 at the Paris Air Show it was announced H C Sleigh Aviation had obtained distribution rights for Australia and 25 examples had been ordered. These rights were later taken over by Field Air of Ballarat, VIC and in 1984 Airwork (New Zealand) Ltd announced it was to distribute the type in New Zealand, intending to order ten examples.

The manufacturer encountered financial problems in 1985 and was re-constituted as Optica Industries Ltd. Production was re-launched. Six aircraft had been completed by August 1986 but production was delayed by a disastrous fire which destroyed the production line in 1987. At this time the prototype and nine production aircraft had been completed.

In 1988 Aerospace Technologies of Australia and the Brooklands Aerospace Group of Salisbury announced a variant for operation as an airborne surveillance and monitoring system would be developed as the Scoutmaster, which would be available in two variants, the Scoutmaster I with an FLIR 2000 G thermal imaging system; and the Scoutmaster II with Bendix RDR1400V search radar as well as the FLIR 2000 G system.

A turbine variant was also considered. By 1989 five aircraft had been delivered, but in July 1990 further problems beset the program and the manufacturer was placed in receivership, the assets being obtained by Lovaux Ltd at Bournemouth, a subsidiary of FLS Aerospace.

Plans were then put in train to produce the OA7-300 Optica and to have the aircraft built in Malaysia by Gegasi Industries but nothing came of this plan and the last information to hand was FLS was seeking to sell the program. It has been said in the Encyclopedia of World Aircraft ”a seeming lack of buyer confidence in the radical Optica has led to the design struggling for its survival in spite of its unique capabilities”.

A total of 23 examples was completed at the Company’s facility at Old Sarum Airfield but an arson attack in 1987 destroyed ten aircraft. A number of attempts to place the aircraft back into production failed.

The tricycle undercarriage was fixed. The aircraft was of all-metal construction and the cabin was 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) wide. Space for baggage or specialised observation equipment was provided behind the pilots.

The first example seen in this region G-BMPN (c/n 018) was imported as a demonstrator and displayed at the 1988 Bicentennial Air Show at Richmond, NSW. Registration VH-OPT was reserved but never taken up and the aircraft was stored at Avalon, VIC for some years. On 14 December 1993 it was registered as an OA-7 Scoutmaster 200 to Mr Martin Waterhouse of Narrabeen, NSW as VH-OPT (c/n 018), the registration VH-BMC at some stage being allotted but not being taken up.

In 1998 Mr Waterhouse imported a further example, this becoming VH-OPI (c/n 020 – ex G-BOPN, 9M-OPT, G-BOPN) described as an FLS Optica OA-7 Scoutmaster 301 on 21 January 1999. Both were for some years based at Hoxton Park west of Sydney, NSW until the aerodrome was closed, when they moved to Bankstown, NSW.

Eight airframes are known to survive, five of which could be made airworthy; the two in Sydney which still operate; one in the United Kingdom; and an example which has survived in the United States.

In later times the rights to the design were obtained by AeroElvira at Thruxton, United Kingdom and it has been looking at putting the type back into production, using G-BOPO as a prototype. In June 2015 at the Paris Air show an Optica was placed on display. John Edgley stated he had in 2007 re-purchased rights to the design and with three former employees formed AeroElvira Limited, announcing it was putting the type back into production. This company obtained and re-built an aircraft that had operated in Spain as a fire patrol aircraft to serve as a demonstrator.