Growing "Out of the Box" A large number of current pilots have some sense of foreboding regarding the dwindling numbers of the pilot population. Many feel powerless to change this fact, what with our airports often surrounded by a 10-foot-high chain link fence topped with barbed wire plus prices for training and airplane ownership out of reach for many Americans. An Eye for the New Airshow visitors with an eye for the new may have seen ICON Aircraft and their gleaming silver-and-accent-red A5 seaplane at Oshkosh AirVenture '08. The company's displays have attracted as much attention as their aircraft design. ICON's A5 is a handsomely stylish Light-Sport Aircraft design. Airshow visitors had good reason to pay it attention. Many gawking attendees found A5's "wow factor" off the charts. But the story here is much more than the aircraft, fetching though it is. The real ICON story is that of a company trying to bring aviation and flying to people who don't have a pilot's license. ICON certainly isn't the only company reaching out. EAA's Young Eagles and AOPA's Project Pilot are doing great work, but too-few airframe builders are looking outside that box we all hear about so frequently. Using research techniques taught in business school, the Californiabased company has identified two distinct segments of population that it hopes to reach: aviation-interested persons who let their intrigue languish, and nonaviators with an identifiable predisposition for flying. The former group is comprised of more than two million Americans who once spent money to start flying lessons. FAA's database of fewer than 600,000 pilots is limited to those who have a license today, mostly Private or higher. But many hundreds of thousands more started flying lessons and then stopped, for a wide range of reasons. The latter group - boat buyers, snowmobilers, motorcyclists, plus adventure sportsmen and women - is comprised of several tens of millions of individuals, and that doesn't even count people outside the USA. Arousing even the tiniest sliver of interest in those groups could sharply increase the number of pilots. ICON has set up to reach out further. Yes, they're pouring resources into designing the right airplane that will please existing pilots, and that's what attracts a sea of visitors to the company's exhibit at airshows. Pilots are important to ICON's success, but the company's organization is built to do more. This broader horizon is one reason people like Eclipse Aviation's former CEO Vern Rayburn have agreed to serve on Icon's Board of Advisors. ICON, the Project Stanford University is one of America's most prestigious schools. U.S. News and World Report ranked Stanford business school's MBA program Number One, counting among its professors three Nobel Prize winners among many other awardees. Sanford Business School's $1 billion endowment puts it in the same well-heeled class as Harvard University. As an Apple computer user, I observe that particular tech company broadening its market by designing elegantly styled, assuredly cool products and marketing them creatively and enthusiastically. To some degree, I see ICON Aircraft emulating that role model. While attending Stanford, ICON founder Kirk Hawkins was able to delve deeper than many aviation business start-ups as he created a strategy to achieve his goals. Hawkins looked at the U.S. population and identified various portions that he feels are worth pursuing. Then he began building a business plan to seek those potential aviators as well as the investors whose funding could make the plan a reality. While the company is presently focused on providing an intriguing new aircraft, they're looking beyond the existing pilot market. According to Hawkins, "ICON's mission is to bring the freedom, fun, and adventure of flying to the thousands of others who have always dreamed of it. "Our research has shown that there is an enormous yet untapped consumer interest in aviation. To help unlock this potential, the Icon A5 is not only designed to deliver an amazing and safe flying experience, but is designed by some of the brightest minds in both the aviation and automobile industries to truly inspire us the way all great consumer products do." ICON, the Airplane A seaplane combines the beauty of airplanes and boats into a single package. Using world-class aeronautical engineers to make the airplane viable (see end of this report for details), and leading auto stylists to make the shape appealing is not entirely new. Cirrus Design did something similar (and look how well it worked out for them). In the world of LSA, ICON is taking this tactic to a higher level. ICON says their philosophy in regards to cockpit instrumentation is "to optimize the essential information the pilot needs, for readability in an aesthetically pleasing package." By removing what they feel is nonessential instrumentation, the company feels the Icon panel affords the pilot more time to interact with his passenger and to enjoy the scenery outside. "This is not a head down, transportation-oriented cockpit for flying in marginal weather or in congested airspace," explains Hawkins. "This is a fun-to-fly, look-out-the-window type of plane." In a new approach for Light-Sport Aircraft, ICON will include an angle of attack indicator (AOA). Hawkins found this instrument valuable in his jet flying experience and wondered why it is rarely placed in lighter aircraft. In addition, the A5 will include an airspeed indicator, altimeter, fuel level, tachometer, oil temperature, oil pressure, cylinder head temperature, and caution lights. The center console will have a GPS, VHF radio, intercom, transponder, landing gear and flap switches, pitch trim indicator, and environmental controls. In addition the panel will include various switches for ignition, battery power, lights, etc. But what about "glass"? ICON says an available option package includes an enhanced cockpit with LCD screen (glass panel) for night IFR flying. This option replaces the pilot's side gauges with a computer screen displaying the same indications plus a few others necessary for night flight. Visitors to the sleekly styled A5 on display in ICON's exhibit saw the wings of the new LSA fold at the push of a button, James Bond-style. "The A5's wings can be manually folded one at a time in as little as 5 minutes or, with the available automatic option, the wings can be folded by engaging the mechanism from inside the cockpit in less than 30 seconds," reports ICON. Questions are periodically raised regarding the safety of folding wings. "U.S. Navy wing-fold technology has been around for years as a proven and reliable technology with an extremely low risk of failure," ICON says. The company's engineers optimized basic wing-fold technology and painstakingly designed it so that it only operates on ground and water when not flying. "The wing-fold mechanism is designed so that the folding elements are separated from the structural elements carrying flight loads," ICON elaborates, ICON, the Creators CEO and founder Kirk Hawkins leads the ICON team, and is supported by fellow entrepreneur and Stanford business schoolmate Steen Strand, CFO David Crook, and VP of Marketing Paul Crandell, who came to ICON from Red Bull. The management team and corporate headquarters are near California's Los Angeles airport, in an area densely populated with aerospace companies and aviation resources of all kinds. Before graduating from Stanford Business School in '05, Hawkins flew F-16s in the U.S. Air Force and 767s for American Airlines. After earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University, Hawkins was the Director of Engineering at an aerospace contractor before returning to Stanford University in '95 for his Masters in Engineering, specializing in manufacturing. An avid sport and flying enthusiast for 25 years, Hawkins says he has built and flown ultralight and Experimental aircraft, and has logged nearly 1,000 skydives. Hawkins is also a seaplane instructor pilot with hundreds of hours bush flying in Alaska. After founding ICON, Hawkins turned his attention to management duties and overseeing the engineering effort. ICON engineering is directed by CTO and Vice President of Engineering Matthew Gionta and supported by a tight team, all from the famed Scaled Composites company. Jon Karkow (who also serves as test pilot), Scott Bledsoe, and James Crocoll are all names closely associated with SpaceShipOne and the Global Flyer, plus other significant Scaled Composites projects. In addition to the engineers, ICON's development unit based in new facilities at the Tehachapi, California, airport employs several Scaled Composites technicians with long experience building unique airplanes designed by Burt Rutan. ICON's engineers have worked in sync with outside automotive designers through several design phases as they perfected the consumer-oriented A5 aircraft. The first phase was completed in-house. The second phase involved numerous designers from some of the world's top car brands, including BMW, Porsche, Rolls Royce, and others. The final detailed phase was completed by Nissan's advanced design studio, creator of the award-winning 350Z sports car. Troy Lee Designs, the leader in motor sports racing design, applied final aesthetic touches and graphics. Any true-blue pilot eyeballing the svelte A5 will quickly ask, "How does it fly?" ICON first flew the proof-of-concept aircraft in July '08 and is now building hours to discover flight qualities. Prior to real-life flights, earlier trials of a radio-controlled model confirmed some design elements. To assure it would meet certification requirements, ICON engineers participated on the ASTM standards committee; the company expects to receive an airworthiness certificate during the production ramp-up in '10. Only a month after the shapely machine was unveiled at a glitzy Hollywood-style event, the A5 first took to the air, exactly on the schedule ICON had announced at their gala debut party. By the time the machine arrived to make a splash at Wisconsin's Oshkosh summer airshow, the seaplane was accumulating hours. For the next few months into '09, all flying was done by engineering team member and test pilot, Jon Karkow. A serious and capable pilot with similar experience at Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites company, Karkow is a disciplined aviator well suited to early test flight work. But Karkow's sole occupancy of A5's pilot seat had to arouse a deep desire in Hawkins. The fighter jock and ultralight pilot was anxious to climb into the left seat of his creation. Hawkins was ready to go flying and it finally happened in March '09. Hawkins says, "On my first takeoff I actually did not touch the stick until rotation. The A5 smoothly climbed up onto the step and accelerated effortlessly and quickly to takeoff speed. This is not typical for many seaplanes. They often require pilot finesse as the hull transitions from displacement to plowing to planing modes. "In the air," he adds, "the responsiveness and control forces while flying were uncharacteristically smooth and easy. The aircraft responded just like you'd expect a 'sport' plane to respond: light, predictable, fun." Hawkins also is quick to add that the company has to do a lot more test flying before they prepare for production in late '10. ICON, the Success Story? I've found the folks at ICON to be a breath of fresh air. They have a young, impressively educated and experienced team, an attractively styled aircraft with a long list of features, and a well-researched and -conceived approach to business. Since funding appears to be proceeding apace, do all of these components equal success? According to business schools, books, or motivational speakers, ICON would appear to be headed toward a profitable conclusion. They already report more than 350 orders at $139,000 each before the first customer has flown one. Yet the first deliveries won't be made until the end of '10, and a lot of spending and effort must occur in the meantime. Despite the impressive human resources the company can boast, they've embarked upon a big project. Several hurdles need to be met. Manufacturing - Though the design work is complete and the prototype flying, it's a long flight to manufacturing. ICON is forecasting first deliveries in late '10 and that would seem to ensure enough time. But as the last tumultuous year has amply demonstrated, a lot can happen to a fresh aviation start-up, though the task is much more approachable by virtue of the industry consensus standards. Infrastructure - As with all other LSA producers, building infrastructure for service, maintenance, training, and more is essential to building a larger company. ICON is enlisting the right employees or outside services to figure this out, but it is a big task. Continued Funding - Every start-up company, aviation or otherwise, spends a fair amount of time merely raising the capital to get to a point where sales start paying the bills. As with other aspects of this well-orchestrated enterprise, ICON seems to have this well in hand, but it is an ongoing effort. The current climate of economic uncertainty makes this job much harder. Despite the many challenges of being an aviation start-up in a sluggish economy, ICON is wealthy with assets to use in achieving their goals. Founded in '05, ICON seems to have rapidly attracted an array of the best and brightest talent. With investors who continue to see the future, ICON is certainly off to a good start and shows the promise of being able to maintain momentum. It appears beyond question that pilots will buy some A5s. However, it's the company's success at attracting those languishing ex-Student Pilot certificate- holders and the legions of power sports and outdoor equipment enthusiasts that will realize the most potential for this new California aerospace start-up.