Remos Still Climbing

Another company that did a great job getting me excited for the Sport Aviation Expo was Remos Aircraft. They contacted me weeks before show to invite me to a dinner at which they were going to make a big announcement. Unfortunately, I didn't make it down to the show in time for dinner, but I did get to talk with Remos' David Gustafson on Saturday. He was kind enough to fill me in on the release of their 2009 Remos GX models and show them off to me. I was very impressed.

Remos has been a growing force in the LSA market. Their G3 is a great plane and the new GX model just took it another step. The G3 garnered some impressive celebrity endorsement and Remos actually took the lead in LSA sales last year. That's no small feat...Flight Design's CT is a great aircraft that has ruled the market from the beginning. Remos had one of the larger and more expensive displays at the Expo this year; a sign that I regard at least in some part as a testament to their success. I'm very happy to see another light sport aircraft becoming widely successful and I hope this will heat up some competition and benefit all us pilots.

Remos' success isn't an accident; they're a smart company in a growing market. They offer planes with many important features. They're sturdy without sacrificing anything in form and beauty. They have great visibility and offer the highest useful load of any LSA on the market. Every time I look at them, I am reminded that their aircraft have a level of fit and finish that some say is lacking in the rest of the LSA market. With a new paint scheme and luxury leather seats to go along this year's other improvements, the GX is a plane that most pilots would be proud to use as a luxury cruiser.

For me though, the icing on the cake for the GX is that its wings are designed to fold for storage. I pay about $200 a month for my hangar at a small airport. I bet those of you in big cities or on the coasts just choked on your coffee and wish you could find a hanger for twice that much (if you can even find one available.) For a Remos owner these problems have the potential to disappear. With its wings folded, a GX is small enough to fit in a garage, storage shed or a tiny corner of someone else's hangar. Or, be like a glider pilot and keep your plane in a trailer. You can park it next to your house and drive it to the airport or park the trailer next to the FBO in that big grassy field that nobody ever uses. Remos purposely made the process of unfolding the wings quick and straightforward. The GX's Rotax engine burns 4 or 5 gallons per hour. Imagine how many more hours you could afford to fly that plane if you could eliminate the cost of a hangar lease!

One of the markets that Remos has been competing in is flight training. Their main LSA competitors are likely the Flight Design CT and Cessna Skycatcher. I have nothing against the SkyCatcher. It looks like a great plane and has a pedigree that speaks for itself. I think it will be a powerhouse in the training market just like the C-150/152 have always been. That being said, Remos' aircraft has over 200 pounds more useful load than the SkyCatcher. That's the difference between having to fly min fuel all the time in order to fit an instructor in the plane and flying a whole day of flight training (with an instructor) without having to refuel. That's also the difference between a plane that will be a great short-legged trainer and a plane that can be doing training one minute and take off for a long cross country the next.

Remos' 2009 GX models come in 3 flavors. The first, called the Explorer, comes without wheel pants and has conventional "steam" gauges. It's targeted at the flight training and backcountry flying markets. (Oversized wheels are an option.) Their Aviator I and Aviator II models trade steam gauges for Dynon EFIS displays and other features. The Aviator I is the mid range product, and the Aviator II is the top-end product with standard wheel pants, full EFIS, a new 3 blade prop standard (it's optional for the other models), and more. The avionics wouldn't need much to make it an IFR airplane either. Though the Explorer model is officially the one intended for soft field operations, I think the the Aviator models would do just fine for a day trip to the golf course.

I'm sad to mention that at the conclusion of the Expo, one of Remos' planes crashed and the pilot was killed. We at AviationBull express our sympathy to the friends of and family of the pilot. It was a tragic accident, but I have no reason to think it reflects on Remos' aircraft. I expect that we will hear a lot more exciting news about Remos this year. If you're looking to do some economical and fun flight training, you might end up flying one of the growing number of G3s and GXs being used for training. If you're looking for a plane that will be great for fun, travel and economical to store and operate you should definitely take a look at these aircraft.

For what it's worth, my father-in-law was at the show with me. He flew for the Air Force and retired as a 777 captain. He cruised the entire show and said that the Remos GX was one of his favorites. Now I just need to convince him that it'd be much easier to come visit his daughter if he owned one...