Important FAA-related message at end of this article.
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 weight increase with FAA stating,”The combined features and SRA (Spin Resistant Airframe) incorporated into the Icon A5 design … are recognized by the FAA as significant safety enhancements.” FAA also referenced that the agency felt an exemption was “in the public’s interest.” Kirk Hawkins added that his engineers “put safety ahead of arbitrary weight limits” and forged ahead with enhancements to include a more crashworthy cockpit, the airframe parachute (about which they’d already talked but with which the weight increase became more possible), and of course, the wing cuffs, “a synthesis of several known ideas put together in a way that finally worked” to provide a Part 23-worthy stall resistant airframe.
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Weight Increase for Icon … Yes or No?
Fact #1: EAA ArVenture Oshkosh is coming in mere days. Fact #2: In the world of politics (and for that matter in corporate communications), you announce good news to big crowds or at the beginning of the week and you bury bad news on a Friday afternoon when maybe no one is listening hoping they’ll forget before a new week begins. So, if FAA may finally respond to Icon Aircraft‘s request for a 250-pound weight increase for their A5 LSA seaplane, Oshkosh would be a great place for FAA to announce it. The million-dollar question: Will FAA do this? And, what would it mean if the agency did announce it? My journalist friend, Al Marsh, over at AOPA just published a blog on this subject titled, “Why Icon will get its LSA weight exemption.” If you have any problem finding Al’s article go to AOPA’s blog website and click the “Reporting Points” heading, then scroll down as needed.
Icon Aircraft Reports Being Fully Funded
First Icon Aircraft wowed aviation enthusiasts with its sleek and uniquely featured amphibious A5 LSA seaplane. Over the years the company reported collecting around 1,000 orders, a success story that even beats Cessna’s Skycatcher. However, several years passed and the company did not enter production, although they reported a deal with Cirrus Aircraft to handle some fabrication duties. Perhaps all that changed now. The Southern California company announced that it raised its fourth and final round of funding totaling over $60 million. They’ll use the funds to “complete production preparations, demonstrate regulatory compliance, [and] ramp up full-scale aircraft production.”
CEO and Founder of Icon Kirk Hawkins said, “For the first time in Icon’s history, the company’s future is no longer reliant on the whims of the capital markets, which have been highly unstable over the last five years.” He identified that the new financing effort was led by a “multibillion-dollar conglomerate” strategic investor from China.
LSA News Wrap — Rotax-Icon-Tecnam-More
Another busy week finished a very active August that has seen high readership… for which we sincerely thank you. Following are some brief news stories in the LSA space.
*** ROTAX “EMERGENCY AD?” Aviation media was all over the Rotax “Emergency AD” story, but is that entirely accurate? Aren’t LSA subject to manufacturer-issued SBs or Service Bulletins rather than Airworthiness Directives, which are normally issued by FAA for certified aircraft? Well, “yes,” said Rotax expert Phil Lockwood. He explained that the matter in question — some fuel lines that need to be replaced — was a result of a vendor change bringing some incorrect components. “Rotax issued a Service Bulletin last spring on this subject,” Phil added. The so-called “emergency AD” was triggered by an EASA issuance primarily for certified Rotax engines in Europe. Rotax BRP is a very careful company that is quick to correct problems and this was something of delayed reaction that again appears to show the certified world may not respond as quickly as the LSA sector.
Cirrus Returning to LSA? Well, Yes… for Icon
Icon Aircraft and Cirrus Aircraft announced a deal for the general aviation composite aircraft producer to build parts of the Icon A5 and the news introduced dates for the A5 to come to market.
*** Several years ago I traveled to Cirrus’ Duluth, Minnesota plant in the company of the Icon top leaders, including CEO Kirk Hawkins. In those days, Cirrus was seeking info to make decisions about their since-dropped LSA project called the SRS (photo). The Icon fellows were obviously impressed and the trip subsequently paid off.
*** “Cirrus has a global reputation for producing truly outstanding composite aircraft structures,” said Hawkins. “Their extensive experience, specifically in composite sandwich-production techniques, makes them an ideal production partner for Icon.” Cirrus has built more than 4,000 of its SR models. Returning the admiration, Cirrus CEO Dale Klapmeier said, “The Icon A5 is certainly the most innovative LSA on the market.” He added, “We believe that Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilots are critically important to the growth and future of aviation.”
*** Like most airframe makers these days, Cirrus may not be using all its capacity.
Icon Back on the Radar Screen
The splash heard ’round the LSA world continues to send out ripples, though it’s been years now since startup LSA maker Icon Aircraft first announced, with considerable marketing fanfare, its amphibious light sport amphibious project, the A5. *** Now comes word today from the company that’s it’s just completed a “demanding regimen of spin-resistance test flights. This milestone will make the A5 the first production aircraft in history to be designed to and completely comply with the Federal Aviation Administration’s full-envelope Part 23 spin-resistance standards developed from NASA’s work on the topic.” *** The lengthy release (a PDF file) goes on to enumerate the general cost in lives and hardware to civilian flying from stall/spin accidents, and cites its intentions to “design the A5 to the more difficult to achieve but safer standard of ‘spin resistant,’” as opposed to spin recoverable. *** Icon also conformed its testing regimen to the FAA Part 23 standard for certified aircraft.
Icon’s Mission of Outreach
Icon’s Mission of Outreach
ICON Aircraft calls itself “a consumer
sport plane manufacturer.”
Kirk Hawkins, an
accomplished engineer, former
U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter pilot
and avid power sports enthusiast,
founded the company. After learning
of the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) major regulatory
changes in ’04 that created
the light sport aircraft category
and sport pilot license, Hawkins
conceived his enterprise in ’05
while attending Stanford
University Business School.
Since then, ICON Aircraft’s sole
purpose has been to bring the freedom,
fun, and adventure of flying
to all who have dreamed of flight,
whether they are existing pilots or
other recreation enthusiasts.
ICON Aircraft believes that consumer-
focused sport aircraft can
do for sport flying what personal
watercraft did for boating. “ICON
aircraft are not only designed to
deliver an amazing and safe flying
experience, but also to inspire us
the way great sports cars do,”
explains the company.
A venture-backed, early stage
company out of Silicon Valley,
ICON Aircraft based its operations
in Southern California,
which is a hotbed for aerospace
engineering, automotive design,
and power sports activities.
ICONographic Marketing
I thought I’d share a couple interesting videos recently posted on the Icon Aircraft website. There’s a multimedia gallery of high-profile, appealing eye candy, including YouTube videos chronicling various aspects of the ongoing test program for the company’s A5 amphibian S-LSA. *** Two I found particularly interesting: a stall sequence and a potpourri of recent flight test ops. *** First, the stall sequence shows the classic tufted airflow indicators taped to the wing to demonstrate inflight stall progression from the root outward. *** Watch the tufts near the root begin to wiggle and change direction first, demonstrating loss of lift. Then see the stall move outward from the root and along the trailing edge. To my eye, it seems like the middle of the wing completely stalls before the root. I’d like to know about the aerodynamic significance of that, and why the wing doesn’t stall more classically at the root first.
CEO Makes ICONic Flight
The Icon A5 made a big splash, you should excuse the pun, at last year’s Oshkosh Airventure. The high-profile marketing campaign posits that there’s a whole generation of high-energy recreational enthusiasts looking to own their own flying motorcycle/jet ski, and they’re putting up some hefty investment capital to back up their vision. *** The company took another major step toward finding out whether that vision has legs when ICON Aircraft founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins made his first flight in the prototype on March 11, 2009, as part of the company’s user trials. The flight took place at Lake Isabella in Kern County, CA, site of 45 earlier test hops. *** “I walked into the test flight completely focused on evaluating the aircraft as a potential customer,” said Hawkins. “As an experienced pilot who’s flown everything from ultralights to fighter jets, I expected my reaction to be, ”˜Yep, it flies just like I expected.
Finding New Pilots; Icon Takes a Novel Approach
Most aviation participants have been wringing their hands over the declining pilot population. FAA’s database of active pilots has dropped from 825,000 when I began flying to less than 600,000 today…all while the U.S. population has grown by 50 million. We are clearly doing something wrong, and have for too long had a too-inward focus. *** We have some worthy efforts of outreach. EAA has their fine Young Eagles program. AOPA has its Project Pilot. Companies like Cirrus rove from show to event with their mobile display. Yet we need to do much more. *** L.A.-based Icon Aircraft is one such company that is doing so, recently introducing their new Icon A5 LSA. While the company is presently focused on providing a fascinating new aircraft, they’re looking beyond the existing pilot market. According to their CEO Kirk 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.
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