Getting one step closer to becoming a production ready craft, the ICON Aircraft took to the skies at an undisclosed lake location in California last week. A full-scale prototype of the composite carbon fiber , two-seater A5 demoed its flight creds and performance with a series of maneuvers including take-off, landing, on-water capabilities and low-speed flight. Featuring a folding wing design for easy transport and storage, the A5 also features retractable landing gear for flying off land and water with equal finesse while its 100-hp Rotax 912 ULS engine runs on both auto and aviation gasoline at an estimated top speed of 120 mph.


Featuring an intuitive, sports car-like cockpit with MP3 port, and patent-pending Seawing platform for easy access and docking on water, the predictable and easy-to-fly ICON A5 will undergo a series of tests before a pre-production model can be handed to for approval by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and ASTM compliance. With an estimated price of USD$139,000, the ICON A5 standard model is expected to hit production late 2010.

Source: Gizmag278999