Originally Posted by
Royalistflyer
As a matter of interest, I flew the Optica prototype and I was impressed in that it did exactly what it said on the tin.
I thought that the lack of payload, no space for police radio or hand-carried camera equipment, over-sensitive CG sensitivity (remember the need to move ballast weights when your observer got out), poor cruise performance for the power, lack of IFR/IMC/night capability, and 45 ft wingspan and offset nosewheel on the ground were all a bit limiting. Also I thought that neutral to positive spiral stability would have been an improvement over the slightly divergent mode when I looked at the behaviour in role relatable steady state low level turns over a point simulating monitoring a target on the ground.
I'd love to do an evaluation of the Australian Seabird Seeker for comparison. I suspect that it's solved most of those problems and may be rather better platform. I did try to get some gen off the manufacturers as a colleague and I were interested in seeing whether it would be worth trying to import, but they didn't seem inclined to share. Which was a shame.
G