Icon Aircraft, the California developer of the A5 amphibious light sport airplane, has enlisted Cirrus Aircraft to produce a “significant portion” of the composite airframes for the LSA.
As part of the agreement announced on Monday, Cirrus will build the composite airframe components for the Icon A5 at its factory in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and ship them to Icon for final assembly.
Composite structures produced by Cirrus for Icon will be manufactured alongside the Cirrus SR20 and SR22 lines, the companies said. Composite component production will begin late this year, and the first production A5 is expected to completed next summer. The initial production rate has been set at 50 airplanes, which is predicted to rise to 200 to 300 airplanes per year.
“Cirrus has a global reputation for producing truly outstanding composite aircraft structures,” said Kirk Hawkins, founder and CEO of Icon Aircraft. “Their extensive experience, specifically in composite sandwich-production techniques, makes them an ideal production partner for Icon.”
Base price for the A5 is $139,000.
