"Flight" is dead.....

[Fozzer]

...long live the Icon A5!.... :)...>>>

http://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/lsasp ... NDk2MDk3S0

Paul.

[expat]

Odd, I had hear that Cirrus where bust :-?

Matt

[dave3cu]

Odd, I had hear that Cirrus where bust :-?

Matt

Not bust, sold....http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2011/110228cirrus_sold_to_china.html

[wifesaysno]

...long live the Icon A5!.... :)...>>>

http://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/lsasp ... NDk2MDk3S0

Paul.

I hate to break it to you gentlmen, but I have heard some very very troubling things about Icon. For one, WACO Classic has received many inquires of disgruntled former Icon customers asking about our Great Lakes (some have committed). The complaints from them: WEIGHT WEIGHT WEIGHT. Apparently the Icon's payload capability is heavily limited and much inferior to its closest contemporary:
http://www.searey.com/

I can also tell from the point of being on an aircraft development team and from talking with many other small manufacture/start-up developers that there is no way that Icon's finances are stable when they can afford to sponsor MS Flight, Airventure, all the publicity, girls, and even stunts and STILL last year 4 of the Icon execs made over $1million dollars...can someone please explain how a START UP LSA manufacturer with a BRAND NEW design using expensive materials can financially swing all the above even though not ONE A5 is in customer hands?!?!

In short, Icon will crank out probably over 100, but there is no way the company will last. The LSA market is extremely lean on profits, which is why my boss has refused to get into it despite numerous inquires. There is simply far to little money to be made since LSA's are supposed to be cheap but yet still cost a lot as they are aircraft.

[beaky]

...can someone please explain how a START UP LSA manufacturer with a BRAND NEW design using expensive materials can financially swing all the above even though not ONE A5 is in customer hands?!?!

I think the intention was for the partners to get rich, not to create a viable company... 
That kind of flim-flammery has been around since the dawn of powered flight: get investment money, trot out some eye candy and razzle-dazzle, crow about how revolutionary your design is, then drag your big bags of cash out the back door after locking the factory gates when it all collapses.

That's a powerful comparison- Searey vs. Icon- the SeaRey is a lot of airplane for the money, especially the turbo'd version. they will probably be selling long after Icon is forgotten.