Icon A5.. another crash Jul 27

Unit74 said:
Ad blocker warning.... won’t display if you stop them from shoving BS down your throat to look at the page.
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Weird, loaded fine for me.. but here you go. Also, salesman was flying it which suggests that Icon's marketing hasn't learned anything:
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Two people were injured - a Mt. Pleasant pilot and a salesman flying it - when a rare amphibious airplane crashed on Littlefield Lake in northwest Isabella County Saturday.

The Mt. Pleasant pilot was intending to test fly the ICON-A5, described as a "high-wing flying boat-type amphibious monoplane," with the intention of possibly buying it, sources said.

One man suffered slight injuries and the other was more seriously hurt, sources said.
 
Use AdGuard and it works too well sometimes.....
 
Hard to say but look like if they would have just stayed the course into the wind they could have climbed out of it. The takeoff “rollout” just seemed to be an afterthought.
 
But it has an AoA?!?!?!?!
 
I know nothing about taking off in an amphibian, but it looked to me like he had his flaps fully deployed and he really pitched up just before it stalled. I wonder what happened.
 
Unit74 said:
Flying just above vs1 and turning into a tailwind?
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Took off into too small of a space and, like George of the Jungle, hit a tree. Note the horizontal stabilizer coming off as he hit the tree.

The airplane didn't have enough performance to climb or turn out of the cove he'd taken off into.
 
What's with the kind of circular takeoff run though? Is that normal for an amphib?
 
Yet another test flight confirming you can't fly slower than Vso (for long). It didn't help that the stalling wing clipped a tree.

Does it look like to others that they were running out of room in a straight line run for takeoff and had to turn to "create" more running room? That didn't work out too well. Looks like it was on the ragged edge pretty much after liftoff.
 
BrianNC said:
What's with the kind of circular takeoff run though? Is that normal for an amphib?
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I saw that too I didn't fully understand it, but I saw Dornier doing that with one of their turboprop flying boats at an airshow and taking off basically in a circle. Looked pretty badass.. so either that, or they were trying to extend their take off run in that small space
 
chemgeek said:
Does it look like to others that they were running out of room in a straight line run for takeoff and had to turn to "create" more running room? That didn't work out too well. Looks like it was on the ragged edge pretty much after liftoff.
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Yep, he took off into the amphibious version of the box canyon and recognized he had very limited room during his takeoff roll. He had room to safely abort, even right at liftoff. Alternately, I think the airplane could have climbed out of the situation if it made a minor course correction to the right after liftoff, leveled the wings and climbed, but he tried to turn and climb at the same time.
 
Tantalum said:
I saw that too I didn't fully understand it, but I saw Dornier doing that with one of their turboprop flying boats at an airshow and taking off basically in a circle. Looked pretty badass.. so either that, or they were trying to extend their take off run in that small space
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It's not unusual to get up on the step that way if you are restricted for space. But I would have thought most seaplane pilots would want to climb out over the water to the highest degree possible?
 
JCranford said:
Wonder if the customer purchased after the ‘test flight’
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Hey, all things considered, if I lived through that I might think the thing is pretty safe.
 
GRG55 said:
Yes. And one of those incredibly modern, efficient, gee-whiz Rotax engines too.
And personally, I'd trade it for an extra 80 or more "old technology" Lycoming hp on that thing.
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Of course. We should always blame pilot error on Rotax. Gosh, if only he’d had another 80 HP... or better conditions... or magic pixie dust... or more room, or better decision making skills.
 
DaleB said:
Of course. We should always blame pilot error on Rotax. Gosh, if only he’d had another 80 HP... or better conditions... or magic pixie dust... or more room, or better decision making skills.
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Or a lighter passenger, or more headwind.
 
DaleB said:
Of course. We should always blame pilot error on Rotax. Gosh, if only he’d had another 80 HP... or better conditions... or magic pixie dust... or more room, or better decision making skills.
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That thing looked marginal from the moment he throttled up.
 
kyleb said:
Yep, he took off into the amphibious version of the box canyon and recognized he had very limited room during his takeoff roll. He had room to safely abort, even right at liftoff. Alternately, I think the airplane could have climbed out of the situation if it made a minor course correction to the right after liftoff, leveled the wings and climbed, but he tried to turn and climb at the same time.
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Beauty of aborting TO on water is you probably stop rolling in seconds once you pull back on the throttle.
 
jesse said:
That’s not how airplanes and winds work.
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Well, it could make the trees to the side come at you faster as you try to bank away from the ones in front of you, causing you to foolishly increase your AOA to attempt to get above them. But to your point, the direction of the wind doesn’t effect stall speed.
 
yup, box canyon takeoff, with free televised advertisement. Awesome. This is why the weekend "flotilla" crowd and flying don't mix. :D
 
hindsight2020 said:
yup, box canyon takeoff, with free televised advertisement. Awesome. This is why the weekend "flotilla" crowd and flying don't mix. :D
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Yeah, but you would think an Icon salesman would be better trained and not take dumb chances with a customer on board. Frankly, I think Icon’s problems are cultural.
 
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