Learning a New Plane

March 28, 2011
 
As a Sport Pilot, I am limited to only flying Light Sport Airplanes (LSA's). My airport currently has two that I can choose from. One is the Sportstar that I did all my training in, and the other is a 2007 Remos GX. Today I learned to fly the Remos. A lot of things in the Remos are different than in the Sportstar. For example, the brakes in the Remos are part of a center console that you operate by hand, not foot brakes like the Sportstar. The flaps and trim tabs are switches, not levers that you pull. But the biggest thing that I will have to get used to is the visibility of flying in a high wing airplane, vs the low wings on the Sportstar. I felt like I could not see anything sitting inside the Remos. But overall, once I get used to the differences, it should be a fun little plane to fly.

Matt taught me how to do the preflight inspection, then we departed to the north to our usual practice area. To get acquainted to the new plane, he started me off with some basic turns. Afterward, he had me set up for slow flight, followed by doing a power-off stall. This was by far the craziest stall I have ever done. It felt like the nose was going to sky-rocket to the ground, and it definitely wanted to spin. I recovered without any instructor help, but it wasn't the most pleasant experience that I've ever had. We then did a power-on stall, which was pretty normal.

After showing that I was capable of flying the plane, Matt wanted to spend a lot of time practicing landings. The winds kept changing, so I decided to land on Runway 18. He taught me the speeds that I needed to maintain while flying the traffic pattern, and the before landing checklist that I needed to perform. He also told me that the Remos has a tendency to get slow quickly, and that I needed to pay extra attention to my speeds. If I flare too much or too soon on landing, the airplane will want to just drop onto the runway, possibly causing damage to the plane. Most of my landings went well. I think I needed Matt's assistance for most of them though. We did some normal landings, and some crosswind landings, along with a couple go-arounds.

It was a day full of new challenges. We will go up again in the Remos for extra practice, then I should get the signoff soon, so that I can fly it solo anytime I'd like.