What about one of the RV's. They do a lot more than that!
It will be interesting to see what Van does, if anything, about designing a
Sport Pilot aircraft. Until the RV9, it appeared that Van was interested only
in the 'other end' of the performance spectrum...that is, hang a big-ass
motor on the nose of a very-well designed airframe based on a 1970's pylon
racer, then kit it up as nicely as possible. His success tells the rest.
The RV9 makes it clear that his genius (or perhaps rather, colossal
competence) extends downwards. I don't think he'll be able to resist the
challenge. Indeed, all he might have to do is to 'power down' the RV9
a good bit. There's clearly plenty of performance range left in it, even if you
went below the O-235's 118HP: http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv-9per.htm
He already makes the stall speed, but he'd have to slow the plane down some.
Perhaps the gross weight limit and the top speed limit would come with the
same horsepower...or maybe he can re-prop or lengthen the wings to convert
unwanted top speed into rate-of-climb and short field performance, plus
stunning economy.
I had my first RV8 ride a few months back, in a beautifully built example
with an IO-360. The owner warned me about how sensitive the controls
were, but the stick felt just fine to someone used to 'two fingers and a
thumb' in an Ercoupe. The Oregon Aero tempur-foam seats were so
comfy, that I felt that I might doze off in the middle of high-G and
inverted maneuvers. It's not often that you combine comfort and
thrill in one experience, pretty much continuously.
