Icon Aircraft receives a high percentage of the attention paid to LSA seaplanes. They’ve worked hard on marketing and been quite successful; their Facebook page has nearly 300,000 “Likes!” Yet, as I’ve written, this is a growing subset within the LSA industry with several interesting designs already flying plus new ones to come that are really going to widen people’s eyes. However, some of that remains in the future while we have present-day success stories. If you want a seaplane you can afford and you want it soon, you have several choices, for example: Progressive Aerodyne’s SeaRey and the hot little SeaMax, both of which are SLSA approved, plus Edra Aeronautica’s Super Petrel LS, and in the world of light kits, don’t forget another longtime player, Aero Adventure. The latter Florida company recently reported news. “Here We Come Tavares,” exclaimed a recent newsletter from Aero Adventure!
Elements are basic components of nature. As in our first part, I see Oshkosh Elements as fascinating ideas other than airframes or engines. One such worthy idea is Beringer's new anti-groundloop tailwheel. Before we talk about their innovation, though, let's take a quick glance at tailwheel design popularity. Cub-like models and other taildraggers account for more than 20% of the LSA fleet today. Tricycle gear may dominate but lots of pilots believe a tailwheel aircraft is the "proper" gear for an airplane with more machismo, more bush-capability, more aerodynamic efficiency (less drag) ... you name it, many pilots just love taildraggers. Tricycle gear pilots, however, not so much. The reason? Trigear landings tend to self correct regarding keeping the airplane straight on the runway. Tailwheel aircraft threaten the dreaded ground loop. Since this sounds — and can be — scary, lots of Cessna or Piper-trained pilots avoid flying taildraggers.
Several other reporters covered 
Another journalist, AIN's Matt Thurber, wrote: "On normal tailwheel designs, the pivot axis of a steerable tailwheel is offset from the wheel axis, and the distance between the two is called the trail (illustrated photo), according to engineer Claire Beringer. "When you increase this [trail], maneuverability increases but stability decreases." While pilots appreciate the trail feature that allows the tailwheel to pivot for improved ground handling, if there is a disturbance during landing, such as a crosswind gust, the force on the tailwheel tends to cause the wheel itself to [steer] just when it would be more helpful for the pilot if the wheel were to remain straight. "The [tailwheel] spring is not strong enough to retain the tailwheel in its axis," she said. With the wheel in the locked position, the wheel can't pivot but can still be used to steer a limited amount right or left. By pulling a cable in the cockpit (simulated by "A"), the pilot adds the trail to the tailwheel assembly, which can then pivot in any direction."
Summarizing then, aviation has three possibilities for taildraggers since the old tail skid: a tailwheel in fixed or locked position; the classic trailing, steerable tailwheel; and the new best choice: Beringer's no-trail innovation. With the latter, the pilot enjoys full movement while taxiing to the runway, sets the knob or lever (depending on how the kit builder or manufacturer implements this) to "lock" the tailwheel into limited steering for take off, and leaves it that way throughout landing. When ready to taxi back to parking, the pilot "unlocks" the tailwheel and again has broad steering control. Short of gross pilot error, Beringer's creation virtually eliminates the chance of the dreaded ground loop. Now pilots who grew up flying trigear airplanes can lose their fears and perhaps try a fun tailwheel aircraft design. Well done, Beringer!
Opening day at AirVenture Oshkosh 2013 and the very first announcement before exhibit spaces even opened was a press conference from Icon Aircraft. To a media-only group of perhaps 30 or 40 media personalities, CEO Kirk Hawkins began, "Is there anyone here who doesn't know what this about?" No one responded; everyone knew what the rumor mill had begun spewing. Icon is in good company. Even premiere new product secret-keeper, Apple Inc., has trouble announcing something that no one expected. Yet a few comments from the top gun at Icon were of special interest. One other observation first: it was a media event, but if even a single FAA person was in attendance, they were under cover. No FAA shirts or badges could be spotted. Thus Icon made their announcement without any active FAA participation.
Icon received Grant of Exemption No. 10829 for a 
More structure on wings and tail was needed to achieve the SRA and that drove the request for weight exemption, Hawkins added. However, Icon said they do not plan to use all 1,680 pounds they could under the exemption. In their press conference, the company mentioned a target weight of 1,510 pounds, only 80 more than allowed for seaplanes without an exemption. These and other refinements mean that the price will rise from $139,000 (in 2009 dollars) to a starting price of $189,000 but you'll get more airplane in the form of the costlier fuel injected 
The results: Icon will immediately increase the current effort to prepare for production. On a large projection screen they showed a handsome computer-imagery video of a production facility full of A5s being built. It's all animation but it was done with the style we've come to expect from the Southern California company. So, the exemption has been granted and at least three other companies told me within 15 minutes they will also prepare a request based on safety features (but see Update below). FAA may not grant them all — they may not be adequately prepared and documented — but the agency has to at least review them and in a period of budget constraint, these requests will surely take plenty of time and could consume time from FAA personnel. Despite such potential hiccups, Hawkins felt Icon's grant of exemption was a positive for the whole LSA industry and many, though not all, are inclined to agree.
"A weight increase was not a factor in granting Icon's request for exemption," a senior FAA executive told the board members. Instead, the agency "rewarded" Icon with a weight increase because they felt the company had achieved a highly stall resistant wing design to avoid the reason for 70% of fatalities, namely stall/spin.
"Any company that addresses this [stall-resistant airframe] can also get the exemption but they must prove their solution." Such an aircraft must still meet all parameters of an LSA, specifically the stall speed, max speed ... everything except weight.
"FAA would obviously love for all LSA to be stall resistant," because this could save lives. Requests for a weight allowance for parachutes, safety belt airbags, fire extinguishers and other safety gear are very unlikely to get a positive reply.
Beyond the weight increase, FAA allows 100 kilowatts (KW) of power or about 135 horsepower. However, this is a firm limit. Any LSA with more than 100 KW of power must remain a non-exempted LSA and cannot weigh more than the current 1,320 or 1,430 pound weights (600 and 650 kg).
FAA also noted that a pilot with a Sport Pilot certificate could fly an exempted airplane up to 1,680 pounds with 135-hp and that a Light Sport Repairman could work on such an Light-Sport Aircraft.
