Over the last couple of years, virtually nobody has reported on the mysterious and bizarre-looking, but potentially revolutionary flying machine known as the Otto Aviation Celera 500L aside from The War Zone. Well, that is until our most recent article on the aircraft from June of 2019. That piece went viral, but nobody that we know of has followed up with any new information on the remarkably secretive civilian aircraft or the extremely shy firm that built it. Now, based on first-hand reports and images we have seen, we can state that the exotic, bullet-shaped flying machine has successfully taken to the skies.
Before we proceed, take a moment and read about the Celera 500L in order to get up to speed on its proposed capabilities. Suffice it to say, the aircraft is all about shattering the traditional concepts and economies of commercial and private air travel and more.
Word of the aircraft being finally spotted in the air near its Victorville, California home came early last week. A few days later, actual images of the unmistakable airframe flying with a twin-prop chase plane in tow surfaced. It isn’t clear if this was the plane’s actual first flight, but it is the first we or anyone I have talked to knows about. Considering how unique the plane looks and its commercial airport home, it’s hard to imagine it has been flying for any considerable amount of time without anyone noticing.
Now the big question is, when will Otto Aviation actually say anything about the aircraft that is basically their reason for being. Usually successful first flights are something to be grandly promoted and are a huge validation of so much tireless work by the project’s team, yet this endeavor seems to have been run in a manner far more akin to a secretive military aircraft project than a potentially transformative civil aviation one.
Hopefully this highly intriguing plane and the people that built it come out of the shadows soon, but regardless, the Celera 500L is now a very real flying machine.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com