Icon A5

There has been a lot of controversy over the progress of Icon’s A5 production. There is no question that getting a high-rate production facility going, with all its bits and pieces, is a big challenge. In this video we take a closer look at the progress at Icon Aircraft’s final assembly site in Vacaville, California. […]

It was a year filled with big news stories that not only helped to reshape the general aviation landscape but will almost certainly continue to do so for many years to come. The past 12 months have seen aircraft milestones, major changes to FAA regulations and a presidential election unlike any we have witnessed in […]

After a fitful production start for the A5 light-sport aircraft, Icon Aircraft has regrouped. The company has built a composite factory in Mexico to “improve and control the manufacturing process while simultaneously reducing cost,” says Icon’s founder and CEO, Kirk Hawkins. While the new Tijuana-based composite shop is getting up and running, Icon has opened […]

Early buyers of the Icon A5 light sport amphibian who were disappointed by a one-year production delay announced over the summer are now getting the chance to experience their airplanes on some incredible adventures thanks to innovative thinking on the part of manufacturer Icon Aircraft. The California company is leasing back the first couple dozen […]

Vacaville, California-based Icon Aircraft has opened a new training center in Tampa, Florida, where pilots and non-pilots can come and fly the Icon A5 amphibious light sport aircraft. The training center opened yesterday at the Peter O. Knight Airport in downtown Tampa. “Peter O. Knight Airport is the ideal base for this because of Florida’s […]

Icon Aircraft will christen a new factory in Tijuana, Mexico, to produce composite airframes for the A5 light sport amphibian, Kirk Hawkins, founder and CEO of the California company, told Flying. Outside suppliers had been tasked with producing composite airframe components for the A5 until Icon decided in May to bring the work in house. […]

Icon Aircraft’s announcement yesterday of a sharp production cut and layoffs of 60 full-time workers comes at crucial time for the California startup. With deliveries anticipated to be in full swing by now, the company instead is shifting its delivery schedule by about a year as it continues to burn through its cash reserves. But […]

Reacting to a public backlash that erupted after Icon Aircraft began circulating a 40-page purchase agreement that the company asked buyers of the A5 light sport amphibian to sign before they took delivery of their new airplanes, the California manufacturer has replaced the contract with a far simpler document that removes nearly all of the […]

Icon Aircraft says its controversial customer agreement — a 40-page document that the first 100 buyers of the A5 light sport amphibian will be required to sign before taking delivery of their new airplanes — was really all about limiting the effects of crippling product liability, which the company says has negatively impacted the general […]

I’m generally biased in favor of anything that flies, but truth be told there have been a few light-sport aircraft that I haven’t enjoyed flying. I felt that those airplanes were so light on the controls that it was rather unsettling. While the Icon A5 looks cool, I was prepared for the worst when I […]