Not sure when he started on the Optica programme but Neville Duke had responsibility for its ‘B’ conditions flying at FLS up to 6 March 1992 when the CAA asked me to take over as Neville was then 70.
I had no beefs with its handling and enjoyed flying it – including Farnborough that year.
Later when a bunch were leased to a Spanish operator I had to get checked out as a TRE on type. On the due day a CAA examiner arrived at Hurn in an HS125. I conducted a formal brief treating him as a student emphasising the need to properly position the ballast weights in either the nose or tail to control the CG because three heavy men in the cockpit gave quite a different CG compared to a small lady flying solo.
I then went on to say the type had a few gotchers which were not spelled out in the pilot’s notes and these really needed watching. Such as the spectacular view could frighten a passenger who might then grab the starboard stick unless it was removed for such a flight. With less than half fuel, if a wing was dropped to view a line feature and heading was maintained with top rudder, after a while all the fuel would run down into the bottom wing and the engine would stop. With the RPM gauge showing zero (the fan would not windmill) it was necessary to use the ground hot start procedure and since this needed two hands the knees had to be used to control the flight path.
The examiner clearly thought the brief was suitably thorough and announced it would not be necessary for us to fly before he signed my paperwork. Happy days.