European STOL

So, when U.S. pilots try to conjure the ideal adventure airplane capable of off-airport takeoffs and landings and flying in remote areas, they can’t help but do so in terms of the Piper PA–18 Super Cub. It was, after all, the progenitor of the Aviat Husky, the CubCrafters Top Cub, and many, many others. In fact, it takes some effort to even conceive of a STOL airplane with features other than a steel tube fuselage, fabric covering, tandem seating, a single air-cooled engine, and a tailwheel. The Super Cub is that deeply imprinted on our consciousness.

Fidelity to the Super Cub isn’t universal, however, and one noteworthy and strikingly different alternative is the French-built G1 SPYL. This metal-skinned, side-by-side, tricycle-gear aircraft is a standout STOL performer in European contests, and it’s powered by a liquid-cooled Rotax engine. One of the few aspects the G1 has in common with the Super Cub is a high wing, but here, too, is a major difference: The G1 wing folds to reduce the need for hangar space and encourage off-airport storage.

“The idea of short-field and off-airport operations is tremendously appealing to pilots in Europe and other parts of the world,” says Francois Obien, a sales rep and demo pilot at the G1 factory in Gap, France, which builds them as both finished airplanes and kits. “Our owners want the freedom and adventure that comes from of flying to out-of-the-way regions, landing where they want to go, and keeping their airplanes at home.”

Paul Prudent (right), a longtime G1 owner who also develops and tests modifications to the STOL airplanes, keeps one at his hillside home in France where he comes and goes from a 250-foot-long, one-way-in/one-way-out, turf airstrip.

“The funny part of that is that he recently doubled the length of his airfield,” said Jean-Marie Urlacher, a neighbor and fellow pilot. “It used to be 120 feet.”

My introduction to the G1 comes on a cold, clear, and still winter morning at the scenic Gap airport where the factory has been located since 2016. The nontowered airport is a beehive of activity in the warm months with skydivers, gliders, and paragliders coming and going. But this morning is quiet and calm, and the peaks of the nearby French Alps are covered with a blanket of fresh snow.

Obien describes the G1 as a more refined version of the kitbuilt Zenith 701, a popular STOL airplane in both Europe and the United States. The G1 has more rounded metal sides, thicker, anti-corrosion-treated aluminum, and high-end components such as Beringer wheels and brakes (also manufactured in Gap) and a steel main landing gear assembly. About 215 G1s have been delivered, and the company produces about a dozen more finished airplanes each year.

Preflight inspection includes peering through the many clear plastic inspection plates to ensure pushrod linkages to the ailerons and rudder are correctly attached, and that the bolts locking the folding wings are firmly in place.

Two top-hinged plexiglass doors lift up for cabin entry. The control sticks fold down to simplify the process of climbing in and out—a creative solution to a common entry and exit problem. The cockpit itself is surprisingly roomy, and the convex shape of the doors provide additional space.

The VFR instrument panel is placed low for excellent over-the-nose visibility. Two linked throttles—one on the left side of the cockpit, the other in center—allow pilots to fly from either seat with a stick in their right hand and a throttle in their left. This seems like a far superior arrangement than sharing a single throttle or forcing the left-seater to operate the stick with their left hand. (For us righties, a left-hand stick is unnatural, even though a left-hand yoke, for some inexplicable reason, isn’t a problem.)

The airplane we’re flying has a 35-gallon fuel capacity, enough for about six flight hours plus VFR reserves with the 100-horsepower Rotax 912 ULS engine. Fuel is stored in wing tanks and gravity fed to the engine. Instead of a fuel selector, pilots simply open a valve in the clear fuel lines leading to the tank they want to use.

SPEC SHEET

G1 SPYL, light sport versione

Price as tested: $120,000

Powerplant / 100-horsepower
Rotax 912

Wing span / 32.5 ft

Length / 22.1 ft

Height / 7.7 ft

Cockpit width / 48 in

Empty weight / 607 lb

Max gross weight / 1,320 lb

g1aviation.com/en

Engine start is normal for a carbureted Rotax, and an all-in-one graphical engine monitor shows detailed pressure and temperature information on all four cylinders.

This G1 is equipped with a hand-operated hydraulic braking system. Squeeze the hand brake on either stick and the system applies braking pressure to the main wheels. (Toe brakes are an option.)

A ballistic, whole-airplane parachute is located behind the seats and is designed to fire out the top of the fuselage. Removing the safety pin from the activation handle on the instrument panel is one of the first items in the pretakeoff checklist.

Weather conditions are ideal, and the airplane is moderately loaded with two adults, 25 gallons of fuel, and about 20 pounds of gear.

We set takeoff flaps (15 degrees), line up with the paved runway at Gap (field elevation: 2,000 feet), lock the brakes, and add full engine power. Acceleration at brake release is moderate and the airplane is off the ground in about 400 feet following a six-second takeoff roll. There’s no perceptible settling as the electric flaps are raised at 500 feet agl, and we climb at 65 KIAS at a rate of about 1,000 fpm.

The ailerons and elevator are well balanced with light-to-moderate control forces depending on the amount of deflection. Adverse yaw is minimal, but there’s more of it in right turns than left. Cruise power (4,800 engine rpm) at 4,500 feet nets an indicated airspeed of 90 knots.

Slow flight is where the G1 stands out. Ample aerodynamic warning precedes any stall whether flaps are up or down. And the stall itself is a mushy affair with instantaneous recovery as soon as back-pressure on the control stick is relaxed and the angle of attack is reduced.

The roll rate is a fairly sedate 40 degrees per second with flaps up, and slower with flaps down.

Normal approaches flown at 50 knots with 30 degrees of flaps consistently produce rollouts of about 350 feet on the turf runway with light-to-moderate braking. The airplane can be flown much more aggressively, however, with correspondingly steeper and slower approaches resulting in shorter landings.

I wondered how the steerable nosewheel would stand up to the bumps and ruts in the turf, but it seemed to have no trouble at all. A shock absorber allows the nose gear to flex, and that cushions the ride. A pair of cables linked directly to the rudder pedals provides positive steering—and the nose gear is long enough that ground clearance isn’t a concern for the propeller.

The G1 has gone through many iterations since the current owner, Serge Present, began factory producing them in 2010, then moved the company to Gap in 2016. Construction of both finished airplanes and kits takes place side by side in an unadorned metal hangar, and the owner’s office adjoins the factory floor. Obien says the company produces far more finished airplanes than kits these days, and the export market is growing.

G1s are used for anti-poaching patrols and agricultural spraying in Africa, and observation and pilot training in Asia. The company also plans to open a U.S. dealership in the next two years.

Given the worldwide fascination with adventure flying and off-airport operations, this rugged, forgiving, and highly customizable aircraft seems well-positioned in the marketplace.

It’s no Super Cub—but it fulfills the same mission in its own distinctive way.

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