Rod and the Remos LSA

Thanks to Remos salesperson Sue Parker (sue.parker@remos.com) and top notch instructor, Korby Paulsen, I had the opportunity to fly the Remos GX, one of the many light sport airplanes now on the market. Wow! What a fun airplane to fly! I’ve always loved smaller airplanes and the Remos is easily one of the most enjoyable machines that I’ve flown in the past 40 years. If you like to fly for the sake of flying (and who doesn’t?), you’ll really enjoy this light sport airplane.

Its handling qualities are superb, with the flight controls requiring only a very light touch to make the airplane do the pilot’s bidding. My guess is that the Remos will help make the flight training process enjoyable, economical and swift. Sitting in this airplane is like sitting in a fishbowl, with large windows all around. Even in my snorkel, fins and wet suit, I felt I had plenty of room—a room with a view. Of course, having a joystick just maximizes any pilot’s joy aloft. And for those who dislike any right seater’s proclivity to tamper with the throttle, there are actually two of them on the panel (both move simultaneously). One’s placed on the left side of the panel while the other rests as a traditional centerpiece in the lower middle portion of the panel. The novelty of this arrangement is that it allows the left-seated pilot to fly with either hand. An injured Chuck Yeager sure could have used this arrangement when he flew the Bell X-1 (I guess the upgraded Bell X-2 had two throttles?).

More important to the student pilot, the Remos doesn’t feel like an airplane that will bite you if you thumb your nose at the lift equation (but don’t do that). It has gentle stall characteristics, both with and without flaps, and responds quickly to applications of power (and that’s not hard to do considering that this thing has throttles all over the place).

Long ago I learned that if you want to know how to land an airplane that you’ve never flown, you must study the way it handles as it approaches a stall, as well as its temperament during the stall. Does it slow down dramatically as it slows down? Does the bottom drop out of the airplane when it stalls? (Figuratively speaking, of course since the Remos doesn’t have a Bombay door—at least this model didn’t.) These are questions that tell you what to expect during your first landing, given that the landing is nothing more than a controlled approach to a stall.

It turns out that the Remos is similar to the Cessna 150 in its landing qualities, except that you can land it on a dime if it pleases you (and that’s real short considering how much the value of a dime has shrunk in the last few years). As with all light-weight airplanes, you must respect the gust, since even a slight gust represents a substantial percentage of the airplane’s slower stall speed. In gusty winds, you’re wise to fly the airplane to the ground at a slightly higher than normal approach speed. My guess is that student pilots will find this a relatively easy airplane in which to learn about landings.

All in all, I was very impressed with the Remos. It does have a larger price tag (appx. $147,000) compared to other light sport airplanes, but the nice ride and excellent craftsmanship are just a few of the obvious benefits to owning a fun flying airplane like this.