A Rare Robin

It turns out that one of the eight is based about 20 miles from my home. I learned about its existence when I received a text from my friend, Erica Zangwill, asking me if I would be interested in photographing the Robin, in which she recently took her commercial check ride. Erica is an amazing young woman who, among her many accomplishments, is the current president of Carolina Aviators Network (CAN). More on that later.

Avions Robin traces its lineage back to October 1957, when Centre-Est Aéronautique was formed by Pierre Robin and Jean Délémontez, the principal designer of Jodel aircraft. The Robin HR200 had a different designer, Chris Heintz, and is fully metallic, unlike the wooden DR series. It is a light aerobatic aircraft aimed at flight training. The Robin R2000 series was developed from the HR200 and has been produced as the Alpha 160A by Alpha Aviation in Hamilton, New Zealand, since 2004. 

The subject of this article is an Avions Pierre Robin R2160, registered N2160Z, number 210 out of 378 built in France. It’s owned by Lee Smith, 69, who keeps it hangared at Long Island Airpark (NC26), in North Carolina. A former Marine and airline pilot with 30,000-plus hours, he has owned two of the 10 Robin R2160s imported to the U.S., and has, in fact, owned Six Zero Zulu twice.

After his military career, where Smith served as a U.S. Navy medic and then flew Harriers for the Marine Corps, he was hired by American Airlines, flying a wide range of airliners—from the Boeing 727 to the McDonnell MD-11. In 2004, he was offered the opportunity to serve as an instructor on the Boeing 757/767 in Dallas. Needless to say, the Smith family moved to Arlington, Texas.

“I had always wanted to live in a place that had an airstrip and a lake,” Smith said. “All I needed to do was convince my wife, who said she would never live in an airpark. I found a place just by luck on Zillow at Long Island Airpark in North Carolina, located on Lake Norman.  It had everything I was looking for at a price that was extremely attractive back then. The big holdup was our lake home in Michigan, which we had been trying to sell for about 10 years.”

Finally, in 2016, Smith and his wife were hiking on the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland when they got the notice that their house had sold.

“We raced back and started packing, as we had only a month to move out,” he said. “Now that she is settled at NC26, she says she is not leaving here!”

Also in 2016, at 61, he retired from American as a Boeing 777 captain. “I wanted to retire early while I still had my health, so that I could enjoy life on my terms,” he said.

Since settling in North Carolina, Smith has kept busy by rebuilding aircraft and doing a little bit of flight instructing.

“I have taught maybe eight people in the airpark here to fly, including one entire family,” he said. “I started with the father, and continued with his brother and daughter, who is now a corporate pilot, flying Embraer 145s. Erica is another pilot I have been working with, and she just passed her commercial check ride in this Robin.” 

So how did Smith begin his love affair with the Robin?

 “My son Lee Jr. was coming up to the age when he wanted to start flying, and I wanted something that we could roll upside down every now and then and just do some stuff I used to do flying in the military,” Smith said. “I found my first Robin, N216RK, near Rochester, New York, around 1990. It was a good, stable platform for ‘gentleman aerobatics,’ and I hung onto it for three or four years.”

Smith began looking for something capable of more aggressive aerobatics, eventually sold Six Romeo Kilo, and in 1994 bought a Zlín 242L 

“Here is a surprising story involving Lee Jr.,” he said. “The spin recovery input on the Robin is opposite most conventional aircraft. The Robin has a placard that reads: Rudder in fully opposed direction; Elevator control pulled fully back; Ailerons in neutral position.

“The Robin is rigged so that you cannot enter an inverted spin; it just flat out will not do it,. Lee Jr. was out in Salt Lake City, going to college, and he got into an inverted spin with the Zlin. He was doing an Immelmann and snapped at the top, going right into an inverted spin. I have only been in an inverted spin once, and I do not care to see one again. Anyway, he popped right out of it.

“He was telling me about it, and I asked him, ‘How did you know to go to full aft stick on the recovery?’ He explained that he learned spin recovery in the Robin and used that same aft stick control to recover. If he had used the normal spin recovery, stick forward, during an inverted spin recovery, he would have killed himself. Ironically, his training in the Robin and the ignorance of knowing only one type of spin recovery saved his butt.

“I've owned a lot of planes in my lifetime, and I have loved each in its own way. But, well, let’s say the Zlin was not my favorite. To be fair, it did have much better performance than the Robin, and it gave much more aggressive aerobatics. But I was not really staying current with my aerobatics, and that is when a Zlin can really bite you. Soon after that, I sold it.”

Smith has owned some cool and unusual airplanes, including a Wilga, a Wren 460, and a Wing Derringer, to name a few. In 2002, he bought his second R2160, appropriately registered N2160Z.

“It was kind of like saying hello to an old girlfriend, he said. “I was very happy being in the pilot seat of a Robin again.” 

Then, in 2004, Smith was offered a position at American as an instructor on the 757/767 in Dallas. Reluctantly, he sold the Robin to an Air Force captain.

“As fate would have it, he was based at Fort Campbell Kentucky while Lee Jr., then in the Army Reserve, was flying Apaches,” Smith said. “The two actually crossed paths. One day, my son called and said, ‘Hey, Dad, our Robin is here!” He got to fly it a little bit there, and we managed to stay in contact with its owner through the years.”

About three years ago, Smith, now retired and living in North Carolina, realized that his grandkids all wanted to learn how to fly, and he set about trying to find an aircraft that was simple to maintain, had high stress loadings, and what he thought was going to be a decent private pilot trainer. 

“I decided to sell the Derringer and reached out to the Air Force officer, by then, a colonel, and asked him if he happened to have the Robin for sale,” he said. “As a basic trainer for private pilots, as well as a primary aerobatic trainer, the Robin far exceeds any other airplane I can imagine. It just does not have a bad characteristic. Timing is everything, and it turned out that he was, indeed, looking to sell Six Zero Zulu.”

There was another, more poignant reason for Smith to buy that particular Robin. On Veterans Day 2017, WO2 Lee Smith Jr., 35, died at Camp Taji, Iraq, as a result of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.

“Six Zero Zulu helped me maintain a connection with my son,” Lee Smith Sr. says. “He loved flying and he also loved teaching flying. Lee Jr. taught several members of his Apache unit to fly fixed-wing aircraft. As a testament to his legacy, three of them are airline pilots today. As devastating as his death was, it filled me with a determination to honor his memory by working with and encouraging younger people to become pilots—not just pilots but aviators.”

At this point, almost right on cue, Zangwill joined our discussion about the Robin. “There isn’t a single bad characteristic I can think of,” Zangwill said. “You do need to apply a lot of right rudder on climbout, but if you’re a tailwheel pilot, that should come naturally. It’s a straightforward airplane to fly, with fixed gear and a fixed-pitch propeller.”

“You can execute go-arounds with full flaps,” added Smith. “You do not even have to worry about dumping them, even on a hot summer day with two people onboard, it handles just fine. It’s a little fast on final, around 80 mph, but that’s just normal.”

Six Zero Zulu was the last of 10 French-built Robins to be imported to the U.S. Two were written off in accidents, and two New Zealand-built Alpha 160As have been imported. Alpha recertified the airframe to increase the useful load by 220 pounds, and this increase in capacity applies to the French-built machines, as well. 

“I rarely had a weight issue before the useful load was increased, and now I do not have to give it a second thought,” Smith said. “In fact, the Alpha planes come with a 42-gallon fuel tank, up from the current 31-gallon capacity of my aircraft. Fuel management is simple. The Robin has one tank and single point refueling. In fact, I have been thinking about contacting Alpha to find out what would be involved to install a 42-gallon tank. The big tank is PMA’d (parts manufacturer approval), so it should be easy to swap out one tank and put in the new one, then recalculate your weight and balance.

“The only issue with the center of gravity is that the fuel tank is right where your butt is, right behind the seats. It takes up most of the Robin’s original large cargo area. This is not a problem if we are going up to do some simple flying or even going cross-country, but I would not want to do aerobatics with two large occupants and a full bag of gas.”

Smith gives the French a lot of credit for building a plane that is both pilot and mechanic friendly. Most parts on it can be sourced right here in the United States, including Cleveland brakes and the Lycoming 0-320 engine, and you can even have the canopy redone in Ohio. For more specialized parts, Smith said Alpha Aviation in New Zealand has been extremely responsive and helpful.

However, the following post was found on AVweb in April 2019:

“Alpha Aviation, a Hamilton, N.Z.-based planemaker, laid off most of its 70 staff and went into liquidation this week after a three-month search to find a buyer failed to turn up any prospects. In 2004, the company bought the rights to the French-made Robin two-place low-wing aircraft. The plan was to sell updated versions of sporty aircraft to the flight training market under the name the Alpha 2000. The aircraft was certified in the U.S. in 2007.”

Plane & Pilot has reached out to Alpha Aviation to learn more about the company’s current status and capabilities, if any. Alpha Aviation did not respond to our inquiries.

Since Zangwill was the one who brought this aircraft to my attention, her story deserves mention, as encouragement to the new generation of would-be pilots. She and her husband, Brandon, who are both in their 30s, own a 1946 Champ 7DC and a 1966 Piper Comanche 260B. They are a “total aviation” couple.

“Brandon got me into aviation,” Zangwill said. “On our second date, he took me for a flight to Hilton Head [South Carolina] in a beat-up 172. I was absolutely terrified to get into that plane. Nothing looked like it worked. I remember looking at all the gauges, switches, and lights. Things were beeping, and it was all very intimidating.

“However, the second we left the ground, it was love at first flight. I couldn't get enough of it. I started flying in 2019 and joined CAN as a member in 2021, right after it had been established.”

She now has over 300 hours in her logbook.

Zangwill explains that CAN was founded as a Facebook group by Mike Davis in 2021. Davis’ original vision was to serve as a social hub for pilots and aviation enthusiasts, fostering connections within the local GA community. What started as a small group of about 200 members quickly grew into a thriving network, now exceeding 7,500 members and counting.

Over time, the organization evolved beyond its initial concept as a platform for coordinating “$100 hamburger” flights. Today, it actively promotes grassroots GA by promoting and organizing local events, offering educational opportunities, advocating for diversity in aviation, and providing a comprehensive resource directory. CAN recently obtained its national nonprofit status, which will enable fundraising and amplify the organization’s impact.

“As CAN began to grow, Mike brought me and a few others on board as administrators,” Zangwill said. “Later, I was elected president, formed a board of directors, and established a support team. Together, we have significantly expanded the network, launched a website, and extended our presence to multiple social media platforms. 

“Just before joining the CAN team, I was working on my instrument rating in a Mooney M20J at a local aero club based out of [North Carolina’s] Concord Regional Airport (JQF). To build the necessary flight hours, I embarked on an unforgettable two-week, 7,331 nm journey around the perimeter of the United States, including overflights in Canada and Mexico, with Brandon as my instrument-rated safety pilot.”

Soon after that trip, the aero club’s Mooney was involved in a gear-up landing, so Zangwill transitioned to training in a Cessna 172 and earned her instrument rating in February 2024. Soon after, she began training for her commercial in Lee’s Robin, earning that rating in December. 

“Lee has been an incredible mentor, encouraging me to continue my training and pursue my CFI, which I plan to start soon,” she said.

Although CAN has remained primarily a social and resource platform, that all changed on September 27 when Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm, tore a destructive path across western North Carolina, leaving devastation in its wake. It quickly became clear that many areas were completely isolated. 

Zangwill recalls what happened next. “The morning after the hurricane, the CAN Facebook group exploded with an overwhelming response from our members, eager to volunteer their time and aircraft to help,” she said. “With people so willing to volunteer, we agreed we needed to do something, and quickly.”

That turned out to be more than 300 pilots hopping into their aircraft and eager to help. They were mobilized through the CAN Facebook page. Over 1,000 volunteers, recruited by the Hurricane Helene Airlift Relief Facebook group, along with CAN, showed up at Statesville Regional Airport (KSVH), which became a major distribution point, to handle supplies.

CAN set up operations at several airports across the Carolinas, using vacant hangar space for sorting and weighing donations. It deployed a variety of aircraft, including helicopters, fixed-wing airplanes, jets, warbirds, and STOL aircraft.

“We worked with airport managers to arrange for hangar space and, in some cases, fuel discounts,” Zangwill said. “In a two-week period, CAN pilots flew 680 flights out of KSVH alone, carrying over 342,000 pounds of relief supplies—everything from cases of water to lifesaving insulin. Before state and federal relief organizations arrived, CAN continued relief efforts until our help was no longer required. Many sources tell us that there has never been this sort of organized endeavor from an ‘amateur volunteer’ group before, and our efforts received national attention and recognition.”

As we move into the second quarter of the 21st century, the future of aviation depends on enthusiastic young individuals like Erica and Brandon Zangwill stepping up as aviators and leaders. Achieving this also requires mentors like Lee Smith, who generously dedicate their time, aircraft, and expertise to nurture the next generation. According to Smith, the R2160 is an ideal aircraft for this mission. There may be few R2160s in the world, but this one has certainly made its mark.