Remos GX - First Impressions

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rgstubbsjr
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Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by rgstubbsjr »

Is there some kind of legal boiler plate I need to add? These are my impressions of one (1) specific Remos GX after 2 hours of flight on 2 separate days.
Rotax 912ULS and Neuform 3 bladed prop. No parachute.
Things I really, REALLY don't like:
It takes on water faster then the Titanic. After a heavy rain the cockpit was full of water. The seats were full of water. It's 33° F for a high today. My butt was soaked and cold. I have a chapped butt.
There are no toe brakes. I'm sorry, in this day and age it's just stupid not to have toe brakes. It's a struggle for me to reach the switch to unlock the parking brake.
The seats aren't adjustable. Really? For a flight school airplane, where every other student is either a giant or a dwarf?
The digital altimeter is off by over 300 ft when corrected to barometric pressure. Probably just an adjustment, somewhere, right?
Why is the steam altimeter in MPH and the glass altimeter in KTS? If it's fixable somewhere I didn't find it.
I really don't like the swing up doors. The knob now growing out of the top of my head really, REALLY doesn't like swing up doors.
There is NO storage space of any kind in the plane.

Sounds grim so far, doesn't it?

Things I really, REALLY like:
It is a fun airplane to fly. In crappy, moderately turbulent conditions, it was still FUN to fly. Did I mention it was fun to fly?
It has a little more adverse yaw than a P-92, but lead with the rudder before rolling and it will lock in the groove.
With 2 big guys, we are both over 6' tall and totaling 438 lbs, with full fuel, we were under weight by 45 lbs and CG was perfect. The plane jumped off the ground.
The plane had no problems in 13kts wind with gusts to 20kts and a 25° crosswind. I did landings with everything from 0° flaps to 40° flaps. The plane does NOT float like a P-98. It's feels like it's between a C-172R and a Piper Warrior in that regard. A little hard to tell in the turbulence today.
This is my first glass panel (I confess, I'm a Luddite), and I may kill myself because I'm mesmerized by the panel. I love this! All that information. And it's configurable. It even has a carburetor temperature gauge. So decadent!
And an autopilot, which I didn't get to test today. Next time.
I flew a lot of radically different approaches. One even evoked "the look" from my copilot, and a "are you sure you want to be this slow, at this height over the runway?" comment. There were NO surprises. Throttle response was instantaneous, control response is instantaneous, and I didn't have a bad landing all afternoon.
Biggest miracle of all: The cabin heat worked!?!?
I like this airplane. I'm going to have a lot of fun in this airplane. And that, my friends, is what it's all about.

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snaproll
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by snaproll »

Sorry to hear about your Remos experience (the bad stuff)... Had mine for 4 years now, never leaked water, gauges are accurate, yes - seats are adjustable, and I can fit an overnight bag and set of golf clubs in the baggage compartment behind the pilot seat. Every design is a compromise, Remos included, and all have their positives and negatives. Next flight, check the POH for seat adjustment instructions. Swing up doors - I have hit my head a few times - have also removed doors and flown open and breezy - reminded me of days past flying open cockpit airplanes.. Best wishes... Don
rgstubbsjr
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by rgstubbsjr »

The leaks are in the sunroof. The entire "sunroof" needs to come off and be re-caulked. A simple fix.
The fuel tank is right behind the seat. no fix for that. sigh.
The seats have handles, but they don't work. In fact they don't move at all. I'll write a squawk sheet tomorrow.

The complaints are minor, the fun factor is massive.
Except for the doors, and that only because: 1. My head still hurts. 2. I haven't hit the door enough times to learn to duck.
Eventually the problem will resolve itself. I'll either learn to duck or I'll be too brain damaged to fly anymore.

:-)
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zaitcev
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by zaitcev »

I like the tank, it's safer than having wet wings. If you look at pictures of fatal crashes of Remos, you can always see the tank among the wreckage. There was no fire in Florida when they forgot to fasten ailerons, and where the guy forgot to fasten the elevator. You're going to die from blunt force trauma much sooner than from fire.

For the seat, I suggest a good look under. You'll see how it works. The knob that you thought was a handle needs to be pushed, not pulled or twisted. While keeping it pushed in, you rock the seat inboard, then pull it from its mounts.

Frankly I'm not a fan of having to remove the seat in order to get to the baggage.

As far as brakes go, I learned to fly in a Cherokee with overhead crank and no toe brakes. Took me a while to transition to Cessnas. To this day I taxi them in zig-zags. Although ironically, my own airplane has toe brakes, being a taildragger.
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snaproll
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by snaproll »

Appears the seat question has been answered - push the handle aft to unlock the outer seat mechanism, rotate up, and pull out. If I recall, it has three positions. The skylight has been an issue, i.e.. adhesive failure and loosing skylights in flight. Remos says add four screws, need to reseal also. In most crashes, if you pull enough G's to rupture a fuel tank, you are already history. Fuel tank location is to accommodate the folding wings.
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designrs
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by designrs »

It was interesting to see at Sebring this year how many planes with folding or removable wings had fuel tanks in the wings. That seems to be the trend along with the designs to accommodate.
Merlinspop
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by Merlinspop »

designrs wrote:It was interesting to see at Sebring this year how many planes with folding or removable wings had fuel tanks in the wings. That seems to be the trend along with the designs to accommodate.
A bit of thread drift, but I'd be curious to see what percentage of owners who have planes with folding wings actually fold them, and if so, how frequently.
- Bruce
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designrs
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by designrs »

New thread: Folding Wings and Trailerable Aircraft
http://sportpilottalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4035
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MrMorden
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by MrMorden »

rgstubbsjr wrote:The leaks are in the sunroof. The entire "sunroof" needs to come off and be re-caulked. A simple fix.
In the meantime, maybe you can convince the operator (I assume it's a flight school) to put some Bolus tape over the edges of the skylight to seal it up better until they can get the work done. It will look ghetto, but it's not good for the airplane to keep getting water in it.
Andy Walker
Athens, GA
Sport Pilot ASEL, LSRI
2007 Flight Design CTSW E-LSA
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zaitcev
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by zaitcev »

The two early crashes of Remos were related to control disconnects. So, New Mexico Sport Aviation does not fold its fleet of Remos GX for storage. They chose to get more hangar space instead, even though it's rather expensive at Santa Fe (I heard about $500 a month).

I think the primary customers for folding wings in Remos are German glider operators who use it for towing. They have two people on hand to fold the airplane at the end of the business day.
rgstubbsjr
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by rgstubbsjr »

My understanding is that the wings on this bird will never be folded. But it's an air school, so I take that with a grain of salt.
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snaproll
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Re: Remos GX - First Impressions

Post by snaproll »

Keep mine in a hangar at OXR.. Have only folded the wings 3 times in the past 4 years.
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