(Paul Hodge, CEO of Laird Superfood, in his LX7 just after shattering the previous distance record. | Photo courtesy of RDD)
Whoever said records are made to be broken must’ve known something about RDD, an experimental aircraft manufacturer from Redmond. In March of this year, just before COVID-19 quarantines went into place, Sisters resident Paul Hodge piloted his LX7 personal aircraft from Redmond to Anchorage, Alaska in just six hours for a new all-time record for that distance.
After arriving in Anchorage, Hodge and co-pilot Laird Hamilton, CMO of Laird Superfoods in Sisters, were picked up for an epic day of heli-skiing and boarding at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.
Hodge was delighted at how the LX7’s average airspeed of almost 269 mph with standard range made it so easy to get there despite less-than-favorable winds.
“It’s pretty amazing to be able to climb into your own plane and be someplace epic so quickly,” he said. “Virtually every other personal aircraft would’ve had to stop to refuel in Canada, which would mean wasting an hour or more going through customs.”
To prove the six-hour outward-bound flight was no fluke, Hodge hopped in his LX7 a few days later and flew back to Redmond in just 5.5 hours, shattering his own record with an average speed of 317 mph.
“Setting two records in two flights was pretty amazing,” said Hodge. “But I think it’s even more incredible that I had enough fuel left on the return flight to continue all the way to Los Angeles if I wanted to.”
Thanks to RDD’s relentless innovation, the LX7 piston-powered aircraft is quickly becoming known for doing unheard of things in the air, including:
- Climbing at a rate of 2,000 feet/minute.
- Extending range with a fuel capacity of 180 gallons.
- Traveling 2,125 nautical miles in as little as 8.5 hours.\
“For many years, the Holy Grail for experimental aircraft was the ability to fly 1,000 nautical miles without stopping,” said David McRae, RDD’s co-owner and director of Marketing, Sales & Business Development. “But these days, the LX7 just obliterates that mark with the efficiency to go 2.5 times that distance.”
With its exceptional range, it’s only natural that McRae and the crew at RDD have their sights set on breaking the record for flying from coast to coast.
But traveling exceptional distances is just the beginning of what makes the LX7 so unique. The team at RDD has gone to great lengths to make every mile more comfortable with hand-crafted heated leather seats, ergonomic controls and a pressurized cabin. In addition, safety has been enhanced as well with an automated fuel management system, airbag front seat restraints and a whole-aircraft parachute, among other reassuring features.
The LX7’s advancements in speed, distance, comfort and safety couldn’t come at a better time as flights on commercial airlines become less convenient and more restrictive. What’s more, aviation enthusiasts from all over the world will be able to take a closer look at the LX7 as the EAA AirVenture — normally held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin — goes online later this month. Says McRae, “We’re extremely proud of the fact that our planes are regularly breaking records for speed and distance — not with professional test pilots flying in heavily modified aircraft under optimum conditions — but with regular people like Paul Hodge just doing what they enjoy most. To us, that’s the ultimate sense of freedom.”
