Folding Wings Allow Plane to Be Trailered Like a Boat
LOS ANGELES--(Business Wire)--
ICON Aircraft, a start-up light sport aircraft manufacturer,
officially introduced the company and its breakthrough product, the
ICON A5, at a private unveiling last night in Los Angeles. The
two-seat sport plane features an amphibious design with retractable
landing gear for flying off land and water, plus several
patent-pending technologies highlighted by folding wings that allow
the plane to be easily stored and towed on the road with a trailer.
"ICON Aircraft is bringing the freedom, fun and adventure back
into aviation by building aircraft that evoke an emotional response
like great sports cars do," founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins told a
gathering of hundreds of guests that included aviation hero Buzz
Aldrin and motorsports legend Jeremy McGrath. "The sport is now back
in flying."
The ICON A5 features a high-strength, lightweight carbon fiber
airframe and is powered by a reliable, 100-hp Rotax 912 ULS engine
that runs on both auto and aviation gasoline at an estimated top speed
of 120 mph. Besides the folding wings, more unique features specific
to the ICON A5 include an intuitive, sports car-like cockpit with MP3
port, and patent-pending Seawing platform for easy access and docking
on water.
"This is the beginning of a new era by bringing in, not thousands,
not tens of thousands, but potentially hundreds of thousands of new
pilots to aviation," said Vern Raburn, founder and CEO of Eclipse
Aviation.
A team of product designers that have worked for leading
automotive manufacturers contributed to the ultra-modern industrial
design of the ICON A5. A full-scale prototype is scheduled to begin
flight tests this summer under the guidance of ICON's engineering
team, which is comprised of former top engineers at Scaled Composites,
a leading producer of specialty aircraft like the Voyager,
GlobalFlyer, and X PRIZE-winning SpaceShipOne.
The ICON A5 is designed to be predictable and easy-to-fly with
safety features such as a patent-pending Propeller Guard, Wing Angle
of Attack indicator, and quick-deploying ICON Complete Airplane
Parachute (ICAP) so pilots can fly with peace of mind.
"The ICON A5 is extremely well suited for the sport pilot, but at
the same time I think it appeals to the mass market," said pilot Kirby
Chambliss, a five-time U.S. Aerobatics Champion and Red Bull Air Race
champion.
The standard ICON A5 model is amphibious with retractable landing
gear and manual folding wings. The estimated price of the ICON A5
standard model is $139,000 and orders are now being accepted at
www.iconaircraft.com with a refundable $5,000 deposit. Aircraft
production and initial deliveries are scheduled to begin in late 2010.
More Information: http://www.iconaircraft.com
ABOUT ICON AIRCRAFT:
ICON Aircraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded by
Kirk Hawkins, an engineer and former U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter
pilot. Hawkins conceived the company during Stanford University
Business School in 2005 after learning of the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) major regulatory changes that created the light
sport aircraft market in 2004. A venture-backed, early stage company
out of Silicon Valley, ICON Aircraft is now based in Southern
California, which is a hotbed for aerospace engineering, automotive
design, and powersports activities.
ABOUT FAA LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT & SPORT PILOT CLASSIFICATIONS:
In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created a new
classification of easy-to-fly and affordable two-person planes called
Light Sport Aircraft that enable a new classification of Sport Pilots
to fly. The Sport Pilot license focuses on the fundamentals of flying
and requires a minimum of 20 hours of in-flight training, which is
half the time and cost of a traditional private pilot's license. The
Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) described the new rules as
"the biggest change in aviation in 50 years."
ICON Aircraft
Steve Pegram, 818-984-2820
steve@iconaircraft.com
or
Leader Enterprises
Jennie Bragalone, 562-546-6004
jbragalone@leaderenterprises.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
