Posted on 09/18/2008 6:34:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Two Stanford graduates are hoping to make a big splash in the coming years with a personal aircraft that lands on both water and land, company officials told NBC Bay Area Wednesday.
Kirk Hawkins and Steen Strand said that their ICON A5 amphibious sport plane achieved an important milestone when it recently made a successful test flight.
The $140,000 aircraft seats two people.
Hawkins said he conceived the company when he attended Stanford Business School in 2005 after learning of FAA regulatory changes that created the Light-Sport Aircraft market and Sport Pilot License in 2004.
Hawkins said he backed the company in the Silicon Valley with venture capital before moving his base of operation to Southern California, which is a hotbed for aerospace engineering, automotive design and powersports activities.
The Sport Pilot License course focuses on the fundamentals of flying and requires a minimum of 20 hours of in-flight training, which is half the time and cost of a traditional private pilot's license.
The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) has described the new rules as "the biggest change in aviation in 50 years."
Lead test pilot John Karkow made the test run at an undisclosed California lake location. He said the plane performed up to expectations during take-off, landing and low-speed maneuvering flight.
"Everything went well as an initial test flight possibly could go, so I was very pleased," Karkow said. "The aircraft flew exceptionally well and met or exceeded our design expectations. The A5 seems to be a great airplane right out of the box."
Hawkins and Strand said the plane would undergo more tests over the next year before the design is finalized.
It should go on sale in 2010, company officials said.
The ICON A5 features an amphibious design with retractable landing gear for flying off land and water, plus several patent-pending technologies highlighted by folding wings that allow the plane to be more easily stored and towed on the road with a trailer.
Designers said they used carbon fiber for much of the body of the plane. They said it is powered by a 100-horsepower Rotax 912 ULS engine that runs on both auto and aviation gas at an estimated top speed of 120 mph.
Company officials said they will charge about $139,000 for the plane. People must leave a $5,000 refundable deposit with the company to make an order at iconaircraft.com.
Ping
Only 20 hours? Fun
I’d do hammerheads with a Skyhawk.
Would that be a Skyhawk 172 or the jet version?????
Would that be a Skyhawk 172 or the jet version?????
Can someone explain why I keep getting double postings???
>hiccup<
>hiccup<
>hiccup<
Can someone explain why I keep getting double postings???
>hiccup<
>hiccup<
>hiccup<
Maybe I’m missing how this is revolutionary for $130 grand. Not that I wouldn’t want one.
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I think he’s all wet.
Silicon Valley...I almost lived there, once.
Well, across the Bay in Fremont....
Aerospace RULES!
I want one, I want one.
Cessna officials had expected to see more demand for the Skyhawk TD outside the U.S., where avgas prices are much higher than in the U.S., according to John Doman, vice president for worldwide propeller aircraft sales. But since it announced the jet-A-powered Skyhawk TD at the AOPA Expo early last month, he said, “domestically the dealer organizations are ordering them in greater numbers than we expected.”
wow....turbocharged diesel engine ....no joke 
≤}B^)
The 172
I'm gonna buy the solar powered model.
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