I had two co-workers like this -- "remote a plane-ride away" -- and it only worked because they were extremely productive and quite senior, didn't need really a

I had two co-workers like this -- "remote a plane-ride away" -- and it only worked because they were extremely productive and quite senior, didn't need really any hand-holding, and could express themselves extremely productively in emails and other textual media. Their visits were always great fun, but I think both of them felt they were missing some part of the office culture. I think it really depends on management too: do you have to be in the room to be part of any new initiatives, any fun projects? Or does management consider remote team members as first-class as the local ones?