I resolved my potential medical issues by switching to drugs that are OK by the FAA so my Medical is no longer in danger.  However, I am still bothered by the possiblity of losing my medical.  I still have my RV-4 kit (I just can't seem to give up!) and I think that I am going to build it as a  LSA.  If I use an O-200 with with EDIS-4 ignition and a light weight starter I can have 100 HP for under 200 lbs.  It might be possible to build a 860 lb or less RV-4.  With a longer wing to increase wing area from 110 sq ft to 125 sq ft (same as a RV-12) and a gross of 1320 lbs it should be LSA legal.  There was a posting on Van's Air Force saying that the top speed of an O-200 RV-3 was only 150 MPH so it seems reasonable that a 100 HP RV-4 with 125 sq ft of wing should not bust the 138 MPH LSA speed limit.  I will probably build a Fastback to regain some of the yaw stability lost from the longer nose.

What do you guys think?

Ken Powell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tracy" <rwstracy@gmail.com>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2011 4:10:24 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Tracy's RV-8 Wings

Hi Ken,  long time no hear!

  I extended each wing 12.75 inches and used the "Sheared" wing tips which are 6" longer than the standard Hoerner tips.  I think Van's may have switched to Sheared tips as standard now.

Tracy