ICON Unveils First Production A5 Light-Sport Aircraft

By Sallie W. Boyles

If you’ve been saving for a hot little yacht or Ferrari, it’s time to view a new avenue for cruising. Going above and beyond any child or grownup’s wildest dreams, the ICON A5 light-sport aircraft (LSA) sends pleasure flying to the utmost levels of fun and safety. If you’re interested, however, put down your deposit and stand in line: The first customers who placed their orders a few years ago will receive their A5s in May of 2015.

ICON A5 cockpit controls

Why wait?

In short, the ICON A5 is a low-flying (you can soar with the windows down), simple-to-navigate (the onboard Garmin GPS is specifically designed for flight) plane with cockpit controls that look and operate much like a sports car—only it flies! Capable of taking off from and landing on water or land, the A5 also comes with folding wings, so like a boat, Jet Ski, or ATV, the versatile LSA can be stored in a garage and can easily travel to your favorite boat dock or grassy field by trailer.

Attracting both professional pilots and those who are new to aviation, the ICON A5 is the brainchild of ICON Aircraft founder and CEO, Kirk Hawkins, a former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot and lover of action sports. Although the A5 was first featured as the annual fantasy gift in the 2009 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, Hawkins’s dedication to creating an optimal experience with foolproof safety (a built-in parachute is an option!) kept the engineers busy and put the production lines on hold—until now.

ICON publicly unveiled their first production A5 at the 2014 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in convention this July. To celebrate, the company invited a hundred ICON team members to attend the ceremony, as well as owners, suppliers, and other guests. During his presentation, Hawkins said, “The goal is that when our customers and you get a chance to fly this airplane for the first time—you take it out in its element, and do what it’s designed to do—you’re going to come back and say, ‘This thing is amazing. It changed my life.’”

To read more about this George Jetson-like flying machine, simply flip to “An Iconic Experience” on page 30 of the January/February 2014 Issue of VIE HERE.