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ICON A5: Flying Made Fun & Easy

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:24:03 PDT

The ICON Aricraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded by Kirk Hawkins, an engineer and former US Air Force F-16 fighter pilot. Hawkins conceived the company during Stanford University Business School in 2005 after learning of the Federal 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 powersport activities.

- The two-seat sport plane features an amphibious design with retractable landing gear for flying off both 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.

- The ICON A5 features a high-strenght, 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 folding wings, unique features spcific 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.

- A full-scale protype 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 PRISE-winning SpaceShipOne.

- The ICON A5 standard model estimated price is $139,000 and orders are now being accepted at www.iconaircraft.com. Deliverys are scheduled to begin in late 2010.

ICON A5: Flying Made Fun & Easy

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:24:03 PDT