ICON A5 on Today Show today

Do for aviation what Apple did for the personal computer - so no arrow keys and you can't run anything written by Abobe :dunno:
 
Yet another reason why an airplane you can put on a trailer is a freaking GREAT IDEA! Parking an airplane in Rockefeller Center for everyone to see is GREAT!


Shane
The Squawk Shoppe
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Any positive publicity for GA is a good thing, no matter what your personal opinion is regarding if the particular airplane is right for you.
 
I can honestly say that I hope they do well!

At least they are trying to bring back General Aviation. I believe the A5 has an Angle of Attack indicator which is valuable when you are a student pilot.
 
FloridaPilot said:
I can honestly say that I hope they do well!

At least they are trying to bring back General Aviation. I believe the A5 has an Angle of Attack indicator which is valuable when you are a student pilot.
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Its only valuable if you are trained to use it, and my opinion its certainly not necessary for training nor should it be the main focus.
 
When I was on the observation deck of 1 world trade I saw an A5 flying the Hudson. It was cool.
 
Silvaire said:
Do for aviation what Apple did for the personal computer - so no arrow keys and you can't run anything written by Abobe :dunno:
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That was pretty idiotic. Like selling the iMac without a floppy drive or a laptop without an optical drive.

With thinking like that, they'll certainly never have mass appeal and will surely never amass over $200 billion in cash!!!

Oh, wait...

Never mind.

Maybe it's exactly that kind of thinking that could make ICON successful while most aircraft manufacturers struggle with profitability.

Let's hope.
 
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Archammer said:
Yet another reason why an airplane you can put on a trailer is a freaking GREAT IDEA! Parking an airplane in Rockefeller Center for everyone to see is GREAT!


Shane
The Squawk Shoppe
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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:yes:
 
Apple has to buy Icon, rebrand it as "iIcon", integrate CarPlay into the avionics and away we go.
 
Yeah, Icon really needs Apple's pricing model.

Sure. Cuz - Icon is underpriced now.
 
I'd buy one. The AOA is great and will most likely be standard equipment in the near future. The flight envelope is fairly narrow. You wouldn't want too much wind with the light wing loading and the useful isn't that much. But it would sure be fun and parking it at home in the garage would be the icing on the cake. I hope they sell a lot of them, I might then be able to pick up one on the secondary market.
 
Hardly revolutionary, but certainly evolutionary. Not in that market for one since my home metropolis is land locked. But somewhere between 80-90% of humanity lives near a coast of some kind, so I suspect they'll have quite the market.
 
steingar said:
Hardly revolutionary, but certainly evolutionary. Not in that market for one since my home metropolis is land locked. But somewhere between 80-90% of humanity lives near a coast of some kind, so I suspect they'll have quite the market.
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Just wait a few years according to Al :D
 
These guys are off the charts when it comes to marketing. In spite of not having a product for 9 years, they've had this thing the cover or featured in every major publication and most TV gadget shows. It was the featured airplane in the Microsoft Flight Sim, 3 years ago!
GA can't help but benefit.
 
I suppose it will revolutionize transportation like the Segway did a few years ago. :rolleyes:

Any pub about GA other than the latest sensational reporting on a crash is good. I have to say Icon's PR dept/agency is pretty good.

Cheers
 
CT4ME said:
These guys are off the charts when it comes to marketing. In spite of not having a product for 9 years, they've had this thing the cover or featured in every major publication and most TV gadget shows. It was the featured airplane in the Microsoft Flight Sim, 3 years ago!
GA can't help but benefit.
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agreed, icon has done a awesome job in that regard, heck you can even get a RC icon which was semi designed by them too.

If more of the big companies were as forward in the public eye as icon GA would be better for it.

Also the A5 is a great product IMO.
 
The ICON A5 has a lopsided price/value proposition. The first 100 aircraft are said to cost $245,000 each.

To own and operate one requires a sport pilot license and a seaplane rating. The 'light sport' aircraft is heavy (1500lbs), slow (Vh of 92kts), short range (420nm), small useful load (500lbs). And with only one just delivered to customer's hands, an unknown non-prototype operational history.
 
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I believe a seaplane rating is only required if one wanted to land on a 'sea'(water).

If only operated from terra firma, the min would be a SP cert, sans seaplane.
 
Yes they are marketing geniuses, or at least they have poured a lot of money into the marketing but honestly - how honest is that marketing? Because the message seems to be clearly stating that in 20 hours you're gonna be flying low level formation with your buds and your babes and they're gonna make certain you're safe.

While we, as seasoned pilots, see our highly experienced buds and babes with far more capable equipment get killed every year due to simple errors. Making an airplane "spin proof" and putting a parachute on it isn't gonna mean squat at 300 feet in formation with 25 hours of experience.

But on the other hand, if this thing gets young people stirred up, maybe they aren't going to buy an A5, maybe they'll just go out to the local field and take a few lessons in a normal airplane and latch onto the reality of it all and get hooked. All of this publicity can't hurt because in order to go out and kill yourself in an Icon you first have to come up with a quarter million dollars and well, that pretty much narrows the field.
 
It's a neat airplane. I think the ability to trailer it somewhere and launch it like a boat is awesome. I don't like the unconventional panel layout though. Kind of makes me wonder(along with the training program) if the target audience is non pilots with lots of cash. I guess that would make sense. I don't think any current aircraft owner would trade up(down?) to the A5 for that amount of money.
 
Silvaire said:
Yes they are marketing geniuses, or at least they have poured a lot of money into the marketing but honestly - how honest is that marketing? Because the message seems to be clearly stating that in 20 hours you're gonna be flying low level formation with your buds and your babes and they're gonna make certain you're safe.

While we, as seasoned pilots, see our highly experienced buds and babes with far more capable equipment get killed every year due to simple errors. Making an airplane "spin proof" and putting a parachute on it isn't gonna mean squat at 300 feet in formation with 25 hours of experience.

But on the other hand, if this thing gets young people stirred up, maybe they aren't going to buy an A5, maybe they'll just go out to the local field and take a few lessons in a normal airplane and latch onto the reality of it all and get hooked. All of this publicity can't hurt because in order to go out and kill yourself in an Icon you first have to come up with a quarter million dollars and well, that pretty much narrows the field.
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Images of flying don't stir kids up....they have tons of video games and sims that they play with.

Only thing that gets young folks interested is put them in the right seat and take them up for a flight.

The A5 will suit a small niche of buyers....and hopefully it's enough to keep them
afloat.

Their marketing is a bit overstated for the GA community....not too sure how many sales will be generated from a non pilot perspective. My guess.....it wont be much.
 
On a related note...

...check out this image from the Apple website:

22588931227_54f2708e4e_z.jpg


Maybe hinting at an Apple Icon A5 in the future?
 
Apple recognizes marketing men when they see them. As said, Icon is a marketing company.
Like many things in life, the icon has sex appeal, eye candy, bling, or whatever you want to is call it, it just looks goooood. Now, this is very good for a couple reasons. One is that everyone that sees it notices it if not admires it. And once they do, they tell someone about it. When's the last time you saw a Beech Starship or even a Piaggio and didn't comment on it? The second is that they are marketing this machine to non-pilots. Target market appears to be young professionals making good money, with a passion for adventure and an ego to match.
Like having your main competitor across he street from your shop, this is great for General Aviation. Even if it does nothing more than tease new pilots into the marketplace.

Sadly, the only arena it excels at is looks and marketing. The Searey (Progressive Aerospace) outperforms it in every performance attribute, but doesn't have the same modern design "look".

PB
 
Archammer said:
Yet another reason why an airplane you can put on a trailer is a freaking GREAT IDEA! Parking an airplane in Rockefeller Center for everyone to see is GREAT!


Shane
The Squawk Shoppe
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Exactly!!

Cool product and I really like what they're doin for GA right now.

What other -NEW- aircraft has all the abilities of the A5, it is a very exciting aircraft compared to the other offerings, and with the marketing they have been doing I don't understand why pilots arnt super stoked about the icon.



TEFLONSEAN said:
It WILL revolutionize transportation.......for those who have 200k to burn and a body of water close by.:rolleyes:

So....I see it as somewhere between the iPhone and Sony Betamax.

Sony Betamax might have more sales....but hey...they were cheaper.:D
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Do you have any amphib time?

The capabilities it gives you really destroy your view of owning anything else.

I have the ability to fly from a class Bravo airport follow the river to my house land and walk to my front door.

Plus unlike a straight float plane a amphib can easily live in a hangar with heat, full mx, fuel, etc.

If you like the outdoors nothing compares, I load up at the hangar, fly out to a remote lake where you have deer which likely have never even seen a human.

Now the ICON ain't going to haul gear and a deer, but it can do 80-90% of everything else. The amount of places I can take a amphib are truly mindblowing, I also enjoy doing my research, topos, local knowledge, FAA Charts, contour maps, google earth and adding new user waypoint for new "airports" on rivers, lakes, bays, etc.

For me a --new-- A5 is much more aircraft and much more bang for the buck than a --new-- 172, Bo or Cirrus.

As for the panel, it's not my cup of tea, that said I really do like the AOA being front and center, that's a slick move, because after all it really simplifies airspeed down to what matters, heck for a VFR pilot you probably could actually fly along just fine with a AOA and no ASI.
 
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They make this thing capable of carrying 2 real adults yet?

Something tells me this thing is going to be as successful as the Skycatcher.
 
Turningfinal said:
They make this thing capable of carrying 2 real adults yet?

Something tells me this thing is going to be as successful as the Skycatcher.
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Completely different airframes, for completely different missions, with completely different demographics.


How was the 162 at amphib ops?
 
I'm with James, the icon is the coolest new plane in forever. And they have good marketing. Full awesome. Heck maybe they will be cheap searays as the owners upgrade. Yea it won't beat the airlines, so what that ain't the point. We travel too much for inane reasons as it is, staying close to home with an amphib is a much better use of your life.
 
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