Airspeed Demo Flight: Remos GX NXT



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California-based CFI Ron Klutts is an occasional contributor to Airspeed. He captured this story at AirVenture Oshkosh 2011.



I’ve had my eye on the Remos light sport aircraft for a while now and I finally got to go fly it at EAA AirVenture the new GX NXT model.

It was a lesson in perseverance as an airport closure and nasty weather kept us grounded for two attempts. However, the Remos team of Ryan Hernandez and Tommy Lee were patient and kept rescheduling our flight so we could accomplish this demo flight. It was worth the wait.

On our first day, I talked with Christian Majunke, head of design for the Remos GX NXT. One of the key design features was to redesign the glareshield height to allow even better visibility over the nose and to provide more legroom at the bottom of the panel. Normally, these two design goals are at odds because it squeezes the space allowed for the flight instruments. The new Dynon avionics stack reduces the panel space required and allowed the company to lower the glaresheild on the outside of the panel to dramatically increase the visibility as well as provide more legroom space for comfort.



Redesigned fresh air vents in the upper corners of the wing root provide clean and debris-free air by means of a simple design that allows the debris to continue on as the clean air changes direction to flow into the adjustable vents.



We went out to the aircraft to see the features Christian described. Being an all-composite design the lack of riveting and associated bumps and lumps was striking. As you look past the propeller, the engine cowling starts to flare out to provide a spacious interior. The composite construction allows for complex curves to make a comfortable and roomy interior that you don’t expect in a two-place aircraft. Nice straight lines on trailing edges and even gaps between control surfaces shows their attention to detail.

Christian explained that the tapering aft of the fuselage allowed for reduced weight and drag reduction made possible by the composite construction. He described the aircraft is rated for +4/-2 Gs and, if it’s under a 1,000 lbs., then it becomes +5/-3 Gs. It has a 100-knot cruising speed at a conservative 5 gph fuel flow so, with the 21 gallons on board, it gill give 3.5 hours of cruise with VFR reserve.



The demo aircraft was equipped with two Dynon SkyView displays and a Garmin 696 in the center panel, providing airport diagrams on the ground and a wealth of airport information on the large display.

The center stick appeals to me. It just seems like the right way to control an airplane. The aircraft has dual linked throttles, so the pilot in the left seat can use either left or right hand on the stick and then the other hand can use either left or right mounted throttle. Thus, the aircraft accommodates both pilots who are accustomed to the traditional control configuration of stick-flown aircraft while those who might be more comfortable with a yoke and the left-handedness that that engenders will also find the controls intuitive.

The GX NXT accelerates quickly and Ryan allowed me to perform the takeoff after the photo ship departed. The controls were light but not touchy. It was a brisk climb of 700 FPM despite the mid afternoon departure and warm temps. The Rotax 912 engine started instantly was very smooth despite the RPMs being twice what I’m used to from the engines behind which I typically fly.

Fully articulating tinted sun visors allow the operator to position them horizontally or vertically with ease to reduce sun glare to increase comfort and viewing pleasure.

The Remos features nose wheel steering and a single push lever seen angling up between the seats that activates both brakes. It’s very intuitive to use and is a nice change from differential braking.



Ryan showed me the various ways the PFD can be configured to emphasis more on the attitude instruments or engine parameters based on the user preference and flight regime. That’s just one of the advantages of the Dynon system. The integrated EFIS and EMS displays along with the transponder reduces panel space as it’s all in a single unit.

Our patience paid off on the third day as we had near-cloudless skies in which to shoot air-to-air. Ryan explained that the doors can be removed for even better visibility to enjoy the open air aspect. I preferred the doors on but still enjoyed an amazing view out my door as the plexiglass extends very low and makes for an incredible view.

The Remos GX NXT showed exceptional handling and was an ease to fly and land. Most importantly, it was fun and enjoyable to fly and we need more of that in general aviation to attract and keep pilots flying. If I continued talking to Tommy I think he would have sold me a plane as he made a great case for the economics of it being on a leaseback. Something worth considering so more people can have the opportunity to rent it and enjoy this fun flying machine.

Afte the flight, I asked Christian what feature they left off the plane due to time constraints or any other reason that something would have to be left off to include in the next version. His answer? An Espresso machine, Barrista not included though…. Now that would be a great way to travel.

There’s more information about the Remos GX NXT at www.remos.com.

Story by Ron Klutts

Photos by Jo Hunter (www.futurshox.net)

Team-Testing the Remos GX


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These are the show notes to an audio episode. If you want to listen online, please use the direct link below. http://media.libsyn.com/media/airspeed/AirspeedRemosGX.mp3.

At Oshkosh this year, I had the chance to join a merry band of new-media types at Orion Air to go test-fly the Remos GX, a light sport aircraft.

This was my first time flying a light sport aircraft of any kind. I’ve been a fan of LSAs since they were first introduced, but, due to training and other priorities in my own flying, this was the first time that I had had an opportunity to fly one.


In order to get the full spectrum of the experience, I invited several other new-media folks who flew the Remos GX at Oshkosh to join me on this episode to talk about it. From student pilots like Scott F. Murphy and David Allen to relatively new private pilot Bill Williams to me to experienced CFI Mike Miley, you’ll be able to identify at least one panelist on this episode that matches your mission, qualifications, and skillset and gives you the perspective that you seek in evaluating this great LSA.

Thanks to Rod Rakic and http://www.mytransponder.com/ for coordinating the demo flights for this episode!

Pictured in the lead image (L-R): David “Ducky” Allen, Scott Murphy, Cole “FOD” Tupper, Bill Williams, Rod “Fanboy” Rakic.

Frame Grabs from the Remos GX Demo


This is a regular blog post. Show notes and links to show audio appear in the other entries.

I’m still unpacking and sorting the audio and video that I captures at AirVenture Oshkosh last week. An amazing amount of content in a week!

In addition to the Cessna Citation Mustang flight, I got my first flight in a light sport aircraft (“LSA”), namely the Remos GX. As with other experiences at Oshkosh, I’m going to be awhile in putting together the episodes so that I can devote reasonable attention to them. But I wanted to get some frame grabs up to when your appetite.


Here’s the departure from KOSH. Here’s the one drawback to using the 0.3 semi-fisheye lens. You can’t really pick out the six or so other aircraft visible through the windshield. We took off in the hairball that is the usual departure scheme for KOSH during AirVenture. It should be more obvious in the video episode, where movement will show you the other aircraft.


Steep turns over some farmland about eight miles north of KOSH.


The approach back in to KOSH. Eyeballs outside and bracketing airspeed aggressively.


Just prior to touchdown. We asked for the orange dot and got it. Then left a little tire rubber right on top of it. Great control on the landing.

More to come on this one. My particular demo pilot didn’t seem too interested in letting me fly the aircraft. I flew a little enroute and then did some steep turns. After that, I said, “okay, let’s slow her up.”

At which point the demo pilot said “my airplane” and proceeded to deftly demonstrate slow flight and a gorgeous stall all the way into a falling leaf. Being that the demo pilot’s briefing stated that the flight controls his with no quibbling whenever he asked for them or took them, I took it to mean that demo riders wouldn’t be allowed to stall the airplane. A little disappointing, so I told him that I was done and that we could head back.

After talking to some of the other demo riders, I found out that others got to fly the stalls and other maneuvers, so it apparently wasn’t policy. And it could simply have been a miscommunication with the demo pilot. In any case, I’m going to invite a couple of the other demo riders onto the audio episode so that you guys get a full first-hand account of what it’s like to fly the aircraft through a little more of the envelope than I did.

Stay subscribed! Cool stuff coming!

Remos GX Demo at Oshkosh


This is a regular blog post. If you’re looking for show notes or links to show audio, please check out the other posts.

I went up for a demo flight in the Remos GX, a light sport aircraft (“LSA”) from Remos Aircraft. We launched from KOSH during a VFR arrival and departure window so, in addition to it being my first LSA flight, it was during a really busy time in the busiest airspace in the world.

Got to fly some of the en route and some steep turns. It was very responsive and climbed well (better than the 172s in the parallel runway and we launched past them handily).

I should have some better-developed thoughts about the flight soon. I’d like to get over to Hillsdale and fly a Flight Design aircraft before putting out the full episode because I need some perspective in the LSA category. And it’s been a week of extremes with the Cessna Citation Mustang at one end and the Remos GX on the other end.


Cole waited patiently during the ride and I put him in the aircraft afterward for a picture or two. It’d be cool to take him up in one of these. Bet we’d have no problem with climb rate with only 260 pounds of Forces in the aircraft!

Got to get the boy to bed. Seaplane base tomorrow if I can get up early enough.