The manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, declaring $170 million in debt. In June, legal filings showed SG Investment bought ICON for $15.79 million.  

• READ MORE: ICON Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, Pledges Transparency

“It has been an incredible honor to lead ICON Aircraft and work with the brightest and most passionate group of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” said outgoing CEO Jerry Meyer said in an August 2 press release. “I want to extend my deepest appreciation to every team member for their dedication and hard work. I wish them and the company nothing but success in this exciting new chapter.”

Jason Huang, the new company president, will lead ICON through the transition and noted that he is optimistic about the company’s growth and opportunities.

According to ICON, the company is committed to upholding its reputation of producing high-quality aircraft and service to its A5 owners. The manufacturer says service and flight training operations will continue in Tampa, Florida, and Vacaville, California, as well as 60 other service and training partners throughout the U.S.

This article first appeared on AVweb.com.

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ICON announced a 60-pound increase in the A5’s gross weight, which results in a higher useful load of 490 pounds. Because the aircraft can burn less than 5 gallons per hour, the increased gross weight equates to two more hours of endurance or the ability to carry more cargo or heavier passengers.

• READ MORE: ICON A5 Receives FAA Primary Category Type Certification

The company said all 2024 ICON A5s will include the weight increase, and owners of earlier A5s can upgrade to the same performance level with an option package that includes a lightweight four-blade propeller from E-Props.

“In response to feedback from our owners and prospective customers, we elected to undertake further research and development to test the airframe and fully understand what we needed to do to increase the useful load,” said ICON CEO Jerry Meyer. “The solution is a reinforcement of our commitment to innovation, and a 60-pound increase is significant, especially in the LSA category.”

The new propeller, which is standard equipment on all new A5 LSAs, reduced the aircraft’s ground takeoff roll by 21 percent in standard conditions.

• READ MORE: Low Altitude Adventures Adds Second ICON A5 to Membership Program

“The four-blade propeller is a huge upgrade to my ICON A5,” said Santiago Masdeau, an ICON A5 owner based in South Florida. “I’ve flown more than 100 hours with the original three-blade, and now I have around 20 hours on the new carbon fiber four-blade. Immediately, I noticed less vibration and noise, better acceleration, and improved takeoff distances.”

The 2024 ICON A5 Limited Edition starts at $409,000, with the Garmin G3X Touch available as an upgrade. Additional options include autopilot, digital altitude indicator, Signature paint schemes and colors, and Sirius XM Weather. Announcement of the recent improvements follow the FAA type certification of the A5 in the primary category.

The post ICON Aircraft Announces Gross Weight Increase for A5 Amphibian appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

ICON says the certification will allow it to enter new markets, launching a “new phase of growth” for the company. Among other advantages, the new approval gives ICON a much clearer certification path in countries that don’t recognize the U.S. light sport category or those where the company would otherwise be required to go through a waiver process similar to the one it completed with the FAA to receive a weight exemption for the heavier-than-standard A5.

• READ MORE: Icon A5 Light-Sport Aircraft Review

The primary category certification also clears the way for the company to “take advantage of reciprocal agreements between the FAA and aviation governing bodies outside of the U.S.” to certify the A5 in regions and countries such as Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America.

“Receiving FAA type certification for the ICON A5 in the primary category is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire ICON team,” said company CEO Jerry Meyer. “It allows us to expand our market potential around the world, and it underscores the commitment of ICON Aircraft to innovation and excellence in design…We are grateful for the collaborative partnership with the FAA throughout this process, and we extend our sincere thanks for their commitment to safety and efficiency.”

About the A5

The two-seat ICON A5 Certified Edition offers a top speed of 95 knots, 427 nm range with a 45-minute reserve, and useful load of 430 pounds. The aircraft is powered by the fuel-injected Rotax 912iS engine and comes equipped with the Garmin aera 796. It also features a folding-wing design and whole-airframe parachute system.

ICON noted that the certified edition of the A5 has the same specifications and performance as the S-LSA version but will require a private pilot certificate and seaplane rating to operate in the U.S. The A5 S-LSA will continue to require a sport pilot certificate with a seaplane endorsement. Starting price for the certified version is $439,000 while the S-LSA model starts at $394,000.

According to the company, the primary difference between the two versions is that the “Type-certified A5 is produced under a production type certification under a higher level of scrutiny and documentation by the FAA.”

ICON began delivering the A5 to customers in 2017. The company reports that it has now shipped more than 210 A5s to clients across 13 countries. The model is manufactured at ICON’s facility in Tijuana, Mexico.

If you’re looking for an A5 of your own, consider entering The Ultimate FLYING Giveaway.

The post ICON A5 Receives FAA Primary Category Type Certification appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The new program, also called the “Show Above the Show,” will include displays on the ground and flight demonstrations over the Detroit River from several producers of personal flying machines including eVTOLs, a hoverbike, and a jet suit. 

Such a large aviation presence at this long-standing annual car show illustrates a coming together of aeronautical and automotive technologies that has recently redefined people’s expectations of what a “flying car” can be. It also reflects increased interest in eVTOL and other aviation developments among car makers. Recently a number of car companies including Honda, Hyundai,  Renault and Stellantis, formerly FiatChrysler, have announced air mobility projects and partnerships.

“This exciting addition to the show is a natural extension of the evolving transportation ecosystem, especially as people continue to look for creative ways to expand personal mobility,” Detroit Auto Show chairman Joe Lunghamer said in a statement. “We’ll give auto show audiences a taste of the future today with a look at the whole spectrum of mobility—from the thrill of human propulsion to amphibious vehicles you can keep in your backyard to EVs leading the industry’s transformation,” he added.

Companies showing their wares include ICON Aircraft, which will demonstrate its A5 amphibious light sport seaplane; AIR, from Tel Aviv, Israel, which is developing the AIR ONE two-seat eVTOL, and Airspace Experience Technologies, based in Detroit, which will display its Sigma-6 eVTOL, designed to be “a clean, fast, and affordable transportation alternative.” 

Aerwins Technologies of Wilmington, Delaware, and A.L.I. Technologies of Tokyo will demonstrate their XTURISMO, a hoverbike “inspired by the speeder bikes in ‘Star Wars.’” Gravity Industries from the U.K. will show its jet suit, which is said to put out 1,000 horsepower, and Omni Hoverboards of Montreal, Canada, will demonstrate its eVTOL hoverboard.

Flight demonstrations of the XTURISMO, Gravity Jet Suit, ICON A5, and Omni Hoverboard begin on media day, September 14, and run through September 18. Air Mobility displays and experiences featuring AIR ONE, ASX’s Sigma-6, and the ICON A5 will take place inside Huntington Place during the run of the show, from September 14 to 25. 

Show organizers said they will release a full schedule of flight demonstrations and display dates and times soon.

The post ICON A5 Among Aircraft To Appear at Detroit Auto Show appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

After introducing new members of the company’s senior management—such as CEO Jason Huang, senior vice president of operations Stephane D’Haene, and Warren Curry, vice president of sales, marketing, flight operations and service—the company released the news that the Icon will soon become an aircraft certified in the primary category. Ultimately, certification will pave the way for the A5 to be exported to and registered in countries that do not recognize the light sport model of the aircraft. Currently, even for US customers, the A5 can only visit the Bahamas in the Caribbean, for example. Other islands within the aircraft’s range don’t recognize the A5′s LSA classification. The company will continue to offer the LSA version of the A5.

“The first ICON A5 certified edition is scheduled for completion in late 2021,” said Curry. “It will feature a Garmin 796 avionics package, as well as the new “Signature” livery design with three new color options,” including that electric green that caught my eye. “Pilots around the world will be able to import and register their ICON A5 in their home countries.” Additionally, in a news release Icon said, “The current A5 order backlog is approximately five months and there are only three planes still available in 2021 as of this release date [July 26]. The company is expecting to deliver 31 planes this year, and with the momentum anticipated to continue on the heels of ongoing expansion, it has its sights set on delivering more than 50 A5s in 2022.”

Demonstrating a continuing focus on safety, Icon now offers all owners a new Smart preflight planning app to ensure operators are briefed on nearly everything possible that might impact their flights. Curry said more than 50 percent of Icon owners already use the app that offers them a numerical score on the airplane and the pilot’s readiness to conduct the flight.

Icon is offering AirVenture customers a show special if they decided to order a new airplane yet this week. Traditionally, the company requires a 20-percent down payment to secure an order. During AirVenture 2021, customers who visit the Icon booth, #168, Curry said they can secure one of the few remaining aircraft with a $20,000 deposit. The special includes two-full years of free maintenance on a new A5. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price of a certified A5 is $399,000 and includes the G3X autopilot that the vast majority of buyers request.

The post Icon’s A5 Now Comes as a Certified Aircraft appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Icon Aircraft’s Jason Huang said, “Our owners have put more than 20,000 total hours on their A5s, and one theme we’ve heard from them, in addition to the incredible fun they’re having, is the desire for an upgraded avionics and navigation package.” As Icon’s president, Huang listened to customers’ pleas. By early 2021 customers will be able to order their new airplane’s with the G3X Touch, which includes a 7-inch touchscreen and a two-axis autopilot. The new Garmin avionics suite replaces the non-standard Garmin aera 796.

In a news release, Icon said, “The Garmin G3X Touch flight display features a bright, high-resolution screen with infrared touch control interface that seamlessly brings all essential flight information to your fingertips. It is designed to make navigation and communication easier, with intuitive graphics and menus to increase situational awareness and simplify data entry and display. The G3X Touch provides controls for the radios, transponder, and navigation on a single display; and the Garmin GMC 507 control panel for the optional autopilot manages a variety of advanced in-flight modes that significantly decrease workload when activated.” The G3X also includes a dedicated return-to-level (LVL) mode.

To celebrate the new avionics package, Icon is offering 50 percent off the price of the upgraded avionics package for US delivery orders placed by the end of February 2021. Icon says the new avionics package is not currently available for retrofit.

The post ICON A5s Will Soon Include Garmin’s G3X appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Roy Halladay was a pitcher whose work ethic and perfectionism were legendary. So were his talents. In 2010, he pitched a perfect game for the Phillies, and followed that rare accomplishment with an even rarer one: a postseason no-hitter, only the second in major-league history. (The Yankees’ Don Larsen threw the first during a World Series against the then Brooklyn Dodgers, 54 years earlier.)

Halladay, who left baseball in 2013, was the son of a retired professional pilot—military and airline—and was himself a 700-hour private pilot with multiengine and instrument ratings. He owned a Cessna Caravan and, in October 2017, acquired an Icon A5, a light-sport amphibian.

He loved the Icon, raved about it, and said flying it low over the water was like flying a jet fighter. “Take it easy,” his father urged him. “Don’t get carried away.” Aviation demands restraint. Nevertheless, he and his wife flew the Icon under the Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay, Florida, on October 26, and Halladay reported the stunt on social media.

On November 7, he took off alone from a small lake north of Tampa. He did not arm the airplane’s ballistic recovery chute. He flew to the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, where he turned south and proceeded to perform some attention-getting, low-level maneuvers just offshore. He would zoom up a few hundred feet, bank steeply, swoop down, and recover a few feet above the water. On the third maneuver, he pulled a little more than two Gs, pitched up 30 degrees, and reached a height of 358 feet—while bleeding off a good deal of airspeed and getting close to the airplane’s maximum angle of attack. He then banked steeply to the right and started downhill. This time, the combination of low speed and high pitch angle was unlucky. The Icon did not have sufficient energy to recover before it hit the water at a steep angle. The airplane was shattered, and Halladay was killed.

The entire flight had lasted 17 minutes.

The National Transportation Safety Board took an unusually long time—two and a half years—to produce its final report on the accident. The cause of death was “blunt trauma”; drowning was a “contributory condition.” The probable cause was “the pilot’s improper decision to perform aggressive, low-altitude maneuvers due to his impairment from the use of multiple psychoactive substances, which resulted in a loss of control.”

The board’s tenuous grasp of English grammar made it difficult to tell what this meant. Was it the decision or the loss of control that was caused by the impairment? Or was the loss of control due to the decision? Perhaps the writer believed that ambiguity equals “all of the above.”

The psychoactive substances revealed by the postmortem toxicology screen were the stimulant amphetamine at 40 times therapeutic levels; several different prescription opioid painkillers or anti-anxiety drugs, also at high levels; and a muscle relaxant and an antidepressant. Most of these drugs came with warnings about compromising the user’s ability to operate machinery. Their effect in combination had not been investigated, but it is hard to imagine they did not have some influence on Halladay’s decision-making, judgment and physical performance.

It transpired that Halladay, who was 40, had undergone inpatient rehabilitation for opioid dependence twice between 2013 and 2015. (The NTSB was apparently unable to obtain his subsequent medical history.) His wife described him in magazine interviews as anxious and driven by his own perfectionism. His father told an NTSB interviewer that Halladay suffered from anxiety and depression, as well as chronic back pain. Seemingly, he also had a persistent substance-abuse problem.

The elder Halladay described his son as prone to risk-taking, but the examples he gave—long overwater and night IFR flights in his single-turboprop Caravan—would not strike some pilots as unduly rash. As further evidence of “sensation-seeking and a willingness to take risks,” the board cited Halladay’s flight under the Skyway Bridge, but though illegal unless he was in the process of taking off or landing, such a flight involves very little actual danger. On the evidence presented, he could as well have been characterized as “confident, boyish and fun-loving.”

• READ MORE: Previous editions of Aftermath

It is not even clear to me that there was unquestionably a loss of control in the accident. The Icon is equipped with both an angle of attack indicator and a rudimentary flight-data recorder, and it appears that during the final descent, Halladay reduced power to idle, pulled two Gs, and kept the angle of attack just below the stall. At least up to two seconds before the crash, when the data recording ceased, he resisted the temptation, all but overwhelming when the ground or water is rushing up to meet you, to pull back as hard as you can. His actions were appropriate, given the situation he found himself in; but he misjudged the room that would be required for the recovery, and did not have enough airspeed to allow him to pull more Gs without stalling. The crash seems to me to have a lot in common with those airshow accidents in which an airplane runs out of space while recovering from a loop—less a loss of control than a miscalculation.

The Icon A5 was designed by top-notch engineers and aerodynamicists, and it is in many ways a remarkable aircraft. Because it was intended to appeal to an entry-level sport pilot, its creators gave a great deal of attention to making it foolproof. Its low-speed manners are exemplary, and it is the only noncanard airplane to qualify as spin-resistant under Part 23 criteria.

The curse under which it labors is that flying low over water is a lot of fun, and low flying is inherently somewhat hazardous. Low is where the obstacles are, it’s where there’s no room to recover from fumbles, and it’s where people can see you and you’re tempted to put on a show. Nevertheless, low is where the Icon was born to fly.

In October 2017, at about the same time Halladay took delivery of his airplane, Icon distributed to all A5 pilots a document entitled “Low Altitude Flying Guidelines,” which supplemented its existing manual on Sport Flying Operations. A company spokesperson was certain that Halladay had seen and read it. It included the concept of a “soft deck” at 300 feet, below which angles should be limited to 45 degrees in bank and 10 in pitch. The earlier manual dealt with the relatively subtle concept of an airplane’s energy state; in effect, it warned of the danger of getting “behind the power curve,” where in order to gain speed you have to give up altitude.

These publications proved sadly prescient; it was precisely the combination of hot-dogging maneuvers at low altitude and a low-energy state at the top of a zoom climb that led to Halladay’s fatal crash.

There was another warning in the A5 manual that might have had a bearing on the accident as well. It said, in underlined letters, “Do not show off.”

The Seduction of Flying Low

When a type has only two fatal accidents, it’s hardly possible to talk about one without mentioning the other. Jon Karkow was lead engineer on the A5, as he had been on Scaled Composites’ GlobalFlyer, in which the late Steve Fossett made two solo nonstop flights around the world. In October 2017, Karkow was skimming over Lake Berryessa, in northern California, when he flew at low speed—54 kias—into an inlet that he thought led to another lobe of the lake. But it was the wrong inlet; it led into a blind cove with steep sides, and he crashed trying to turn back out of it. The seductive pleasure of low flying, a miscalculation and insufficient energy to recover—a situation seemingly different from but in some ways quite similar to Roy Halladay’s.

This story appeared in the September 2020 issue of Flying Magazine

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Understanding what’s happening at Icon Aircraft today demands a quick look at continuous quality improvement, a culture-driven process widely used in automobile manufacturing to help companies manage an unwieldy production process often caused by rising costs, poor planning or a lack of innovation. But continuous improvement isn’t simply about cost cutting. It’s also about refining the quality of the finished product. In order to succeed, however, a good CI system requires the buy-in of every company employee. Toyota created one of the most well-known versions, which they called TPS for Toyota Production System.

The classic CI system employs a feedback loop to track every production element required to create a product, the cost of each individual part, the number of hours of labor, and most important, the “why” behind every single action. Waste, in either time or materials, is not simply tossed in a corner trash can. These byproducts are examined closely to understand the reason behind the waste—was the part built incorrectly, did the cost of materials unexpectedly increase, or was the person on the line not adequately trained in some element?

All the data is fed back to the managerial team to guide them in eliminating wasted time and materials to improve the overall efficiency of the manufacturing process. The automobile industry learned the hard way that increasing the cost of creating a simple part such as battery bracket by just a few pennies can create manufacturing chaos.

Thomas Wieners brought years of manufacturing experience to Icon Aircraft in 2015 when he became the company’s vice president of manufacturing. He’d honed his skills at automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi, as well as engine builder Rotax. By June 2018, he was the company’s chief operating officer and president, with total responsibility for every aspect of building the light-sport A5.

A devotee of continuous-improvement manufacturing, Wieners understood early that quality absolutely was job number one if the niche A5 was to have any chance at succeeding in an already-crowded world of light-sport airplanes. If a part on the assembly line didn’t fit within tolerances, everyone in the company needed to know why to prevent the same problem from recurring.

Wieners faced enormous challenges when he arrived at Icon, not the least of which were the criticisms of the A5 some within the industry were only too happy to share—starting with the fact that the airplane’s a slowpoke at 95 knots with two people on board. Also, when two people climb aboard, the A5′s useful load drops precipitously with just enough room for about three hours of fuel and little else. And you can’t fly an A5 in the clouds.

Then there’s the Icon’s $359,000 price that some see as an affront to the light-sport design concept originally meant to deliver a solid yet affordable airplane. The price just recently declined from an even loftier $389,000, a figure boosted by a quarter-million dollars from the $139,000 price first announced in 2008. Furthermore, the A5′s not great in a high wind, with a demonstrated crosswind component of just 12 knots. One benefit: The A5 is spin-resistant—not spin-proof—thanks to the prominent wing cuff about halfway along the leading edge. Even being spin-resistant hasn’t prevented a few pilots from pranging their A5s in a number of fatal high-profile accidents. After a couple recent accidents, the harshest critics said production should have been halted.

Despite these drawbacks, the light-sport A5′s eye-catching, sports-car-like charm had already captured the attention of thousands of potential buyers. Created by an Icon design team led by Klaus Tritschler, following his 16 years at European auto giant BMW, the A5 truly stands out because Tritschler focused from the beginning on “bringing a high level of design quality to every element of the aircraft.”

What the company didn’t have when Wieners arrived was a process to efficiently build the design. “The only guide was a booklet of engineering drawings,” he said. “There were no work instructions, no visual aids, no sequence of events, no tooling or real process description. This all needed to be made up.” At the beginning, the company didn’t have the industrial and manufacturing engineering expertise or support in-house.

Engineers are terrific for building one airplane, Wieners said, but “I didn’t want engineering involved in building a series of airplanes. I think they underestimated how complicated it was going to be to build the A5 if you’re solely focused on an airplane’s flight characteristics and aesthetics.” He also realized early on that the company couldn’t afford to redesign the airplane in order to make it easier to manufacture. “I totally underestimated how difficult it was going to be to bring this prototype into serial production. The whole supplier relationship was nonexistent, except for some prototype suppliers, some of which developed into real suppliers. But we needed contracts with suppliers and price-negotiated commercial agreements with those suppliers.” The only solution was to create a quality manufacturing system that would build the A5 the company already had.

That took time. Still, some current owners are quick to point to the quality of their airplanes and Icon’s support of even the early serial numbers. Many said they couldn’t imagine owning anything else, despite the airplane’s perceived shortcomings. While the airplane’s potential weaknesses were always front and center to Wieners, he knew that neither the criticisms nor the accolades would matter much if he couldn’t better organize the helter-skelter system of building the A5; Icon employees were building great airplanes, but it was simply taking them much too long.

Change Begins

Consider the carbon-fiber parts—the heart of the A5. Early on, the company lacked the in-house expertise to create those parts and outsourced the needed work to Cirrus. But the quality of the products was not up to the standard Wieners expected. By early 2016, Icon decided to bring carbon-fiber manufacturing in-house. That plan evolved into a 300,000-square-foot facility in Tijuana, Mexico, that opened the following year among a cluster of other brands well-known in the United States, such as Boeing, Bose and Medtronic. There’s an ample local labor force in the Tijuana area that Icon has spent time and money to train. “I want Icon to be an employer of choice,” Wieners said. “It takes three to six months to train an employee through the entire process of building an A5—although most tend to specialize in one or two areas based on their skill sets. I want them to be challenged, not simply standing around doing repetitive work.” Employees can watch training videos and practice what they’ve learned on mock projects while they work with a mentor to hone their skills. True to its holistic continuous-quality-improvement roots, Icon offers employees items such as a free hot lunch daily, as well as no-cost transportation to and from central locations in Tijuana. A finished A5 sits prominently on the factory floor, so each and every employee can see where their efforts fit into the finished product.

Wieners said the expenditure on employees has worked out well—though, at first, the building process was not remotely efficient and “included plenty of double-checking and a lot of unorganized work, which, of course, is more expensive. The work process wasn’t smooth; there was no rhythm. We decided to cut labor hours by getting the quality right the first time.” He said one indicator that the CI efforts were beginning to work appeared as the defects per unit began to decline.

“By bringing composite fabrication in-house, Icon has been able to ensure that components meet strict quality and cost standards while also allowing us to more rapidly implement changes as we continue to improve our process,” Icon spokesman Brian Manning said in late March 2020. “As a result, we have improved the efficiency of the manufacturing process and supply chain. Our capacity, tooling, precision equipment, and highly skilled and trained technical team rival the top carbon manufacturers in the world.” The turnaround on carbon-fiber manufacturing in Tijuana “has been featured in numerous industry and aviation publications over the past year. We’re actively considering partners interested in leveraging our resources and expertise for contract manufacturing across composites, assembly and engineering services.”

While no company has yet signed on to let Icon manufacture their composites, it highlights the manufacturing changes from just a few years ago. Manning said: “We’ve started to realize efficiencies in our manufacturing process and recently elected to shift most of the final-assembly process to our manufacturing facility in Tijuana. We are happy to see our decadelong investment in manufacturing start to pay off so we can pass those savings on to new owners.” That savings registered directly into the A5′s price reduction from $389,000 to $359,000 for one with standard equipment.

Building Airplanes Is Hard Work

No matter the manufacturer, history has proved that building airplanes is a process littered with potholes, including the machinery and processes needed to create the product, training employees, dealing with regulators, and maintaining a steady flow of customers to the front door, eager to take home the finished product. Icon has had more than its share of problems here too—some related to cash flow, some to bad public relations generated by the aforementioned accidents in the A5. In spring 2016, Icon experienced a cash shortfall, which they managed to overcome.

Other hurdles appeared, however. In August 2019, the company announced a reduction in head count—decreasing the employee base from nearly 650 to about 400 and then down to 200—as part of a revised business plan focused on improved operational efficiency. The move “reduced the cost structure of the airplane across the organization and right-sized the business for current Icon A5 demand,” according to a company press release. Wieners later said: “The company had been structured for higher-volume production, but after producing more than 100 aircraft, we now have a very good understanding of costs. New and existing owners will continue to receive a first-class ownership experience with personalized, one-on-one relationships. Our adventure-seeking owners love that the A5 delivers an unparalleled flying experience.”

Icon had a dozen or so airframes in progress when I visited the company’s Tijuana composite center and later the Vacaville, California, headquarters and delivery center in September 2019. There were another six to eight A5s on the ground in Vacaville to serve the flight training side of the company. Icon extended the invitation not to simply tour the company’s facilities but to watch its employees create a finished A5.

Upon entering the Tijuana facility, I was immediately impressed with its cleanliness. There wasn’t so much as a stray coffee cup or can of pop anywhere. Inside the plant, the temperature is held at a constant 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Even before a formal tour, the progression was clear of how a roll of carbon fiber on the building’s east side and across the well-organized shop floor moved along to the point where the fuselage halves were mated—as well as the wings, that big T-tail, the sea wings, interior, engine and more.

A major component is the A5′s main wing spar, some 120 carbon-fiber plies thick, each laser-guided for placement before the entire spar is vacuum-bagged to begin the curing process. It then spends an additional six hours at 260 degrees F in one of the company’s two pressurized autoclave machines that creates a spar as hard as steel but much lighter.

Icon said technicians use iPads that display detailed graphics for each of the 190 different operations necessary to create an A5—a process that consumes about 500 hours of labor for each airplane, down from 700 hours not long ago. The plant uses virtual parts tracking each time the tiniest part is pulled from stock. The system subtracts each part from inventory to ensure no one runs short. Tijuana is also the quietest manufacturing facility I’ve ever been in, partly because the company is building between only three and four aircraft per month. Wieners said his goal is a healthy backlog with a two- to four-month delivery window for a finished airplane.

Once a completed airplane rolls off the line, it’s shipped to the Vacaville delivery center, where another team of Icon employees perform a detailed condition inspection prior to the customer accepting delivery. That inspection begins with a close look at every spot on the airframe to be sure no cosmetic details were missed, such as stains on a seat. The delivery team rechecks the accuracy of every flight instrument and warning light, and ensures that no aircraft leaves Vacaville without all of the latest updates—such as the new muffler system Icon retrofitted to the fleet not long ago. Finally, the aircraft is flown through an intensive series of maneuvers to ensure customers receive exactly what they paid for.

Speaking to the attractiveness of the finished product, Wieners said: “I truly believe we have an opportunity to not only disrupt an industry but also change peoples’ lives, enabling them to do things that they previously only dreamed about. Our entire team is determined. We have the tools and capabilities to be successful, and we will continue to build out the organization with strong talent across all levels. We want customers to realize [once they climb into the cockpit] that this looks like their car. We’re after people who can appreciate an airplane that’s not technically overwhelming.”

In another custom touch, pilots can use the trailer that Icon now builds in Tijuana to bring home their A5 after a day of fun at the airport or lake. Wieners admits that the A5, while standing out from the crowd, is still just one of many LSAs being offered for sale in the US. That’s why the company is after customers in search of a fresh lifestyle experience, rather than only established pilots.

A Dose of Reality

As Wieners knows well, “creating a new category is challenging.” But Icon seems more than up to the challenge. He said: “In the beginning, when there was a higher demand [for aircraft], our production capacity couldn’t deliver, and people were calling and waiting. Now, I can produce way more airplanes, and yet, I’m always surprised at the number of people I meet who say: ‘Yes, I like the A5. Let me know when you’re in production.’ I have to tell them we’ve already built 100 airplanes. It’s mind-blowing to me that people don’t know more about us.”

But he’s also realistic. “While not giving up on driving for higher volumes, we can’t fool ourselves into thinking we’re going to sell thousands of airplanes per year. I don’t think so. But I think we can still sell many aircraft if we accept this moment of truth, if we accept this reality check, and are courageous enough to make the right call, which I think is our managerial responsibility. Then I think this company, this brand, this product has enough to forge a solid path forward.” As a testament to Icon’s audacity, Wieners asked if I knew why so many of the initial run of A5s delivered came with a registration number that ended in “BA.” He smiled and said that stands for “badass.”

With so many of the nation’s airshows in the first half of 2020 having fallen victim to the COVID-19 virus, Icon’s marketing people clearly have their work cut out for them—especially because Wieners believes that “airplanes sell airplanes,” emphasizing the need for more people to see an A5 up close. He said the company is exploring cooperative marketing efforts with automobile companies such as Mercedes and Tesla. If Icon should falter, however, it won’t be because of the quality of the aircraft’s fit and finish.

This story appeared in the June/July 2020 issue of Flying Magazine

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The Icon A5 amphibian isn’t for everyone. It’s not very fast. It doesn’t really carry all that much, and it can’t fly a four-hour leg non-stop. But flying the light-sport Icon is one heck of a lot of fun when you’re able to peel off from cruising flight at 500 feet above a favorite lake and ease the throttle back for a water landing and lunch at an on-shore restaurant unreachable in a high-performance land plane.

Icon’s always been focused on people with the money and the desire for the kind of adventurous lifestyle owning the two-seater amphib can offer. Now—just when many in the industry are wondering how badly the second quarter sales numbers will be when they appear next month—comes a proposal from Icon designed to grab the attention of some of those would-be buyers. An Icon spokesman said, “We delivered more airplanes in June than we have in any month since last fall and have also been able to build an order backlog of nearly three months. More than ever, Icon stands for freedom, not confinement.” And for a short while, Icon also stands for free.

In order to take the guesswork out of aircraft ownership and focus on the adventures their airplane unlocks, anyone who purchases an A5 by September 30, 2020, can take advantage of Icon’s offer to cover all the airplane’s ownership expenses for the first year. The program includes the first year of scheduled maintenance, a voucher to cover transition training and a $15,000 rebate to cover hangar, fuel, and other ownership expenses.

To qualify, a buyer needs a 10 percent down payment (instead of the traditional 20 percent) before the September 30 deadline. Delivery positions are available between September 2020 and March 2021.

The company knows many interested people aren’t pilots and might be hesitant to try right now—Icon says they’ll fully refund a buyer’s down payment on an A5, for any reason within 5 days after the buyer’s demo flight.

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Some element of human interaction, or lack of one, is responsible for nearly 70 percent of all aircraft accidents. Most of those involve violating a least one FAR, like flying a VFR aircraft into IFR weather, busting minimums on an approach, or a pilot flying when common sense said they weren’t in physical shape to act as pilot in command.

The NTSB’s recent report of the known facts surrounding the November 7, 2017, Icon A5 accident near Clearwater, Florida, that claimed the life of baseball Hall of Fame star Roy Halladay was nothing short of eye opening. While looking deeply into the pathological data uncovered might seem somewhat macabre, the lessons to be learned make it worth the effort. Halladay’s autopsy, part of the larger NTSB report, discovered his blood stream was riddled with medications, any one of which would have been enough to disqualify him from flying. At the time of the accident, Halladay held a private pilot certificate with both single- and multi-engine ratings, as well as a Class 1 FAA medical certificate. He’d logged 721 total flying hours, including 51.8 in the A5.

The report also detailed some of the aerial maneuvers Halladay was performing close to shore before the accident, information captured by a tiny digital data recorder installed on the A5, as well as from people near the water. Some of the steep turns exceeded 45 degrees of bank, while eye witnesses said the airplane’s altitude varied from on the deck up to 300 feet and back, numbers confirmed by the Icon’s data unit. Once Halladay lost control of the A5, the airplane impacted the water at a 45-degree nose-down attitude, coming to rest inverted in four feet of water.

NTSB investigators discovered the baseball player had a history of substance abuse significant enough to require inpatient rehabilitation twice between 2013 and early 2015, with diagnoses of chronic back pain, insomnia, and depression—issues that were treated with various prescription medications. The pilot’s personal medical records for 2016 and 2017 were not available. The pilot’s possession of a current Class 1 medical seems at best contradictory with the illegal substances in his bloodstream.

FAR 91.17 says pilots shouldn’t drink anything alcoholic within eight hours of flying, but leaves the topic of which medications are OK to the FAA’s flight surgeons, essentially everything except an aspirin. Impairing medications found in Halladay’s bloodstream included Zolpidem (sleeping aid), Amphetamine, Morphine (pain killer), Fluoxetine (anti-depressant), Baclofen (muscle relaxer) and Hydromorphone (pain killer). Specifically, the NTSB said the amount of Amphetamine found in Halladay’s blood was nearly 10 times greater than what would be expected from a person using the medication in a prescribed manner, such as for treating attention deficit disorder.

The pilot’s judgment was certainly in question when Halladay flew his Icon much closer to shore than the 500 feet required by Part 91.119, as well as the maneuvers he performed in which the aircraft’s angle of attack and load factor continually increased until the moment of impact. The Icon is equipped with an angle of attack indicator that offers a clear indication of how hard the aircraft’s wing is working, as well as how close the airfoil might be to exceeding the critical AoA needed to keep the aircraft airborne. An aerodynamic stall begins at 15.6 degrees on the Icon’s AoA.

The board said, “The pilot initiated a final maneuver: a climbing right turn from a GPS altitude of 210 ft and an indicated airspeed of 81 knots. The airplane’s load factor increased rapidly to 1.91 Gs and then varied between 1 and about 2 Gs as the AoA increased steadily to 15 degress, which is at the top of yellow band on the AoA indicator.” During the same maneuver, the bank angle of the A5 increased to more than 50 degrees. Halladay lost control of the aircraft shortly after this maneuver.

The Icon A5 includes an emergency ballistic parachute as standard equipment. Halladay never used the chute on the A5, perhaps because the before-takeoff checklist includes a note to remove the system’s safety pin so it would be instantly available if needed. Investigators found that the safety pin on Halladay’s airplane Icon had never been removed prior to the accident flight.

Following another fatal A5 accident earlier in 2017, the company on October 23, 2017, issued a bulletin called “Low Altitude Flying Guidelines” that was distributed to A5 clients and owners. “According to the chief executive officer of the company at that time,” the report said, “the document was created to emphasize some of the known hazards of flying light sport aircraft and to provide mitigating solutions, even though that information was already available in company training and operating manuals. The company official stated that he ‘was certain’ the accident pilot received and reviewed the guidelines.”

There were other elements in Halladay’s flying history that were also indicative of his state of mind at least—though the state of his health at the time is unknown—including one he mentioned in his logbook. While en route from the Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida, to his home just a week prior to the accident, Halladay flew beneath the Sunshine Skyway Bridge with a 180-ft vertical clearance above the water. A few days later, he said on social media that “flying the Icon A5 over the water is like flying a fighter jet” Halladay seems to have been oblivious to the FAA’s catch-all regulation 91.13 that says, “No person may operate an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.”

While the NTSB has not yet officially determined the probable cause of Halladay’s accident, one final note in the Low Altitude Flying bulletin also seems to have been ignored. It warns pilots, “Do not show off.”

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