(February 2012) The first time I climbed into the Remos G-3 it was for my Sport Pilot discovery flight. The “shiny” Dynon Avionics glass and Garmin GPS, navcom and radio did not go unnoticed as I scanned the panel. “Wow, this Sport Pilot stuff is cool,” I thought. Especially since prior to this flight I had been flying in an older Piper Cherokee Warrior. The stalwart trainer was outfitted with mechanical gauges and older navcom equipment.
Most of us know by now that the advent of the Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule seven years ago spurred the production of new airplanes, S-LSA, that offered modern technology and performance. Thanks to the technology advances of the day and the fact that the ASTM standards that “govern” LSA (see last month’s column, “ASTM and LSA“) currently don’t include design and performance for certain equipment, many of the airplane manufacturers could install glass, for instance, or offer these advances as options to the standard panel, with virtually no red tape.
