David takes on Goliath in LSA battle

A pair of Remos G-3/600 light sports aircraft (LSA) arrived Friday to tackle a market far from their base in Germany.  Introduced in 1998, the G-3 claims superiority over Cessna’s similarly sized but more recent SkyCatcher, an airplane with which Remos CEO Michael Meirer declares he is in head-to-head competition.

Meirer ascribes the superiority of the G-3 to the fact that the German aircraft makes extensive use of carbon fiber technology, which he calls “decades ahead” of the new American model built largely from aluminum. Indeed, Meirer is so confident of the superior specification of his aircraft that he seeks to entice those who have placed deposits on the SkyCatcher by offering a $5,000 reduction in the base price for a new Remos G-3.

The Remos ‘superiority’ list over the SkyCatcher includes takeoff roll, rate of climb, range and useful load, Meirer said. Moreover, Remos asserts that with two grown men on board the SkyCatcher “there is nothing left for baggage,” whereas the G-3 can carry substantially more than a golf bag and fishing rod in addition to two holidaymakers.