Mosaic is coming! Are you ready?
OK, Mosaic is still around 15 months away (based on FAA’s often-repeated statement). But good companies plan ahead for changes they can foresee. Icon is moving to increase capabilities on their A5 LSA seaplane… plus, the company is responding to customers who gave feedback to the California aircraft manufacturer.
As most readers now know, Mosaic LSA can be larger and therefore they can carry more. While these airplanes remain more than a year from first deliveries current LSA models are expanding their capacities in preparation.
Go Bigger!
Icon Aircraft released news about the 2024 A5. “After nearly two years of rigorous R&D, testing, and production preparation, Icon is excited to announce that it has increased the gross weight of the A5 by 60 pounds, resulting in a new useful load of 490 pounds (up from 430 pounds),” the company stated.
This change comes from a gross weight increase to 1,570 pounds. How can they do that before Mosaic arrives? Aren’t they limited to 1,430 pounds as permitted on LSA seaplanes or floatplanes? No, they’re not.
This article described Icon’s petition to FAA for additional weight as they assured safety qualities FAA sought. Yet Icon did not initially use all the gross weight given to them. After engineers proved the structure was able to carry more weight, they could simply make the change and amend their ASTM documentation for FAA, a task made easier as Icon has already been working closely with FAA on a Type Certified version of A5 in Primary Category (more below).
As A5’s Rotax 912iS burns less than five gallons of fuel per hour, the company said, “This equates to an additional two hours of endurance or the ability to carry more baggage or heavier passengers.”
Backwards compatibility — Of interest to present A5 owners, Icon added, “All 2024 A5s will include this weight increase, and the solution can also be retrofitted on previous models as part of an option package that includes a 4-blade lightweight propeller from eProps that delivers increased performance and additional weight savings.”
“In response to feedback from our owners and prospective customers, we elected to undertake further research and development to test the airframe and fully understand what we needed to do to increase the useful load,” said Jerry Meyer, Icon’s CEO. “The solution is a reinforcement of our commitment to innovation, and a 60-pound increase is significant, especially in the LSA category.”
4-Blade eProp
In conjunction with the gross weight increase, Icon said the 4-blade propeller that Icon announced in 2023 is now standard on all new A5 LSA. The company said “eProps‘ new propeller provides a 21 percent reduction in ground takeoff roll in standard conditions, increasing the versatility and safety of the aircraft.”
“The 4-blade propeller is a huge upgrade to my Icon A5,” said Santiago Masdeau, an A5 owner based in South Florida. “I’ve flown more than 100 hours with the original 3-blade and now I have around 20 hours on the new carbon fiber 4-blade. Immediately, I noticed less vibration and noise, better acceleration, and improved takeoff distances. I’ve also experienced an increase on my cruise speed at 5,000 rpm and lower fuel burn. The entire experience is better, and it looks amazing, too!”
A 2024 A5 Limited Edition starts at $409,000 with the Garmin G3X Touch available as an upgrade. Additional options include autopilot, a digital attitude indicator, a variety of signature paint schemes and colors, and Sirius XM Weather.
Icon’s announcement of these improvements to the 2024 Icon A5 LSA comes on the heels of the FAA granting a Type Certificate for the A5 in Primary category. The company believes that type certification will allow Icon to expand its market potential around the world, especially in countries that have not yet adopted ASTM standards. The type certified version of the 2024 Icon A5 starts at $434,000.
ARTICLE LINKS :
- Icon Aircraft, all contact info and content on this website
- Icon’s weight increase allowed by FAA, article on this website
- eProps, all contact info and content on this website
- Article about several LSA seaplanes, on this website
- Icon A5 Video Pilot Report, via this website
And with still only 100 hp? A weight increase is not what the A5 needed. Perhaps a more powerful Rotax but then up goes the price again. The Vickers Wave will make the A5 irrelevant.
Correct. A weight increase with no power increase? The new prop may have moderated the negative impact of the weight increase but more power is always good.
You know, it’s too bad a company can’t come up with a nice airplane everyone can afford. Henry Ford had the RIGHT BUSINESS PLAN: build a product every one can afford that why his car was only $400 and a great success.
I still would love to see the mid 1970’s Piper Cherokee PA-28-140 included as a Mosaic aircraft… If this occurs and FAA raises V1 by only a few knots then this process will have been well worth the time and effort for many who probably feel the same as I do.
At $270,000.00 to $400,000.00 how many of us really care?
Well, a dollar sure doesn’t buy what it used to but I hear you. Yet lots of magazines and e-magazines write about turbines and jets that even fewer can buy. I suppose it’s just interesting reading.
Not “just” interesting, but very interesting and enjoyable. Dan, I’ve lost my touch on your website. At one point you had a data gathering database. I think it was something like “Tableau” or maybe “Spotfire”. That might just help people like Paul who wrote about the Henry Ford approach to low cost builders selling planes. That table would help show him what people are buying and how many have sold (registered FAA). This just might point to the Model T of aircraft! Now where did you hide this table?
Keep writing those interesting and definitely enjoyable articles. Been reading your articles and dreaming since 2010. I remember that 1st video you and Dave did on the Phoenix like it was yesterday.
The Tableau database is cleverly hidden on the home page behind a big blue button.
OK, you got me. My eyes go past the welcoming article, looking for the latest article. This time I stopped and clicked on the big blue button! Paul has all kind of choices of kits to build under $100,000. Thanks for showing me again.
1800 pounds with a 915iS or 916iS would be better still.
Start building LSA aircraft for 2 230 lb males and 20 gallons of gas for under $100K
To give the engineers a bit of a break, the updated average weight of an American male, fully dressed and with carry-on, is 200-205 lb.
You can buy a brand-spanking-new, fully-enclosed LSA with a modern 4-stroke engine and over 600 lbs useful load, that will knock the socks off a Piper Cub or Aeronca Champ (and, like them, is fabric covered), for under $90k. But, if you want to keep up with a C172 or PA28, with an IFR-capable flight deck, leather seats, turbocharged engine, etc., etc., then it will cost a multiple of that – about 3-4x – and that seems to be where most of the customers are.
It was often said, back in 2004, that the hope was that basic LSA aircraft would be available for under $45k. People understood that this meant ultralight-style airplanes. $90k today would have been $54k in 2004 (thank you, US government!), so LSAs came out about 20% higher than the goal – but for maybe a bit more airplane.
P.S. If you’re willing to build a kit, you can apparently get a Skyranger Nynja kit (said to be a 300 hour build, no welding involved), with pretty much all the options including a composite-covered fuselage (fabric covered wing) and a 100hp engine that will give you huge climb performance and a 90-kt cruise, and over 740 lb useful load, for about $70k including shipping. These are highly-regarded airplanes in the UK. Of course, $70k today would have been $42k in 2004.
I’m sure there are others with similar value – I just happen to know that one.