ICON Aircraft Unveils Limited Edition ICON 100 A5

LOS ANGELES (July 20, 2011)— ICON Aircraft released photos of the limited-edition design for the ICON 100 A5, which will enter production in late 2012.  These will be the first 100 production A5s and are a limited-edition run with custom paint and interior.  This represents another important company milestone as ICON moves toward production.

The popular ICON 100 program has attracted some well-known owners, including NASCAR driver Carl Edwards and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.  Owners secured their positions through a non-refundable $100,000 deposit and receive a number of benefits in addition to the earliest possible delivery dates for their A5s.  These include the limited-edition ICON 100 aircraft itself, as well as access to special events and ICON Aircraft’s CEO, Kirk Hawkins.

“One of the ICON 100’s special features is its unique exterior paint scheme, which is the first of a series that we are designing for the A5,” said Klaus Tritschler, ICON’s VP of Design.  “The design conveys a blend of performance and sophistication that matches the personality of the A5 itself.  We drew our inspiration for the design of the ICON 100 A5 from a variety of other vehicles, including some of my favorite motorcycles.”

“The ICON 100 A5 is unique for its pearl white, satin-finish exterior,” said Tritschler.  “It models the complexity of the A5’s form and offers a subtle, sophisticated contrast to the metallic silver and high-gloss accents in red and black.  Additionally, it has excellent heat-reflection properties, which is critical for an aircraft with a carbon fiber airframe.  Inside we employed light-colored, marine-grade materials, which stay cool, in addition to being water-, salt-, heat-, and sun-resistant.  These elements continue to raise the bar on light aircraft design while making the A5 super cool, and more importantly, they are essential milestones along the production path.” 

The ICON 100 paint scheme will be available exclusively on ICON 100 aircraft, though ICON 100 owners will be able to select from other paint schemes, including the silver and red livery that the company previously displayed.  ICON is in the process of developing other designs for production A5s, a process that is representative of the detail work in which ICON is currently engaged as production of the A5 nears. 

ICON will publically display a full-scale model of the ICON 100 A5 at EAA’s 2011 AirVenture Oshkosh, which starts July 25, 2011.

For more information, visit www.iconaircraft.com.

ICON Aircraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded by Kirk Hawkins and Steen Strand while at Stanford University shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enacted regulation changes in 2004 that created the new sport flying category.  Kirk is an engineer, former U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter pilot, and graduate of Stanford Business School. Steen, a former investment banker and Harvard graduate, holds a Masters in Engineering from Stanford in Product Design and is a serial entrepreneur. A privately funded company, ICON Aircraft’s base of operations is in Southern California, which is a hotbed for automotive design and aerospace engineering.

ABOUT FAA LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT & SPORT PILOT CLASSIFICATIONS:

In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created a new classification of easy-to-fly and affordable two-person planes called Light Sport Aircraft that that enable a new classification of Sport Pilots to fly in lower altitude, uncongested airspace during the daytime and in good weather. The Sport Pilot License focuses on the fundamentals of flying and requires a minimum of 20 hours of in-flight training, which is half the time and cost of a traditional Private Pilot License. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) described the new rules as “the biggest change in aviation in 50 years.”