Thinking of an Icon A5, any owners here?

They are nice, seemingly well made plane that look like a lot of fun...... I looked at them when Icon had a number of demo aircraft at a local airport in 2018, but I have not flown in one. They were attractively priced pre-production, but have gone up significantly for what is essentially an aircraft to fly locally for recreation.

They do need to be flown with the same amount of care and respect that any aircraft should be. History has shown that between their marketing and their owners, they are too often flown like a 3 dimensional jet ski with corresponding crashes and fatalities. To my knowledge, these have been the result of pilot error or attitude toward the craft rather than any flaw of the plane itself. They are also still fairly new, so long term maintenance, reliability and sturdiness remain unknown. Since you already have other aircraft, you are familiar with these sort of issues and likely have the attitude to allow for a successful ownership experience.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I flew one at Jack Browns seaplane base. It was fun but a few unusual things. When I asked for an approach speed they gave me an RPM setting to adjust, I think it was 2,600 or 3,000. I asked again for a speed and they just didn't fly it that way. I am not a fan of the high revving engines, it seemed to get my attention thinking something was wrong. My son and daughter flew it as well and they both felt it was very easy to fly even though both of them had less than 80 hours at the time.
They did tell me that it was broken a lot. Something about a failure that allowed you to fly it for so many hours before an in depth inspection had to be performed. It was a recurring problem for their aircraft. I remember it being pretty slow, but most seaplanes are relatively slow. It seemed well built and definitely a good looking aircraft. There are some competitors that are much cheaper. One called a Super Petrel LS from Brazil and the Searey which is very similar. I have also flown an Aircam and it is a very nice and fun aircraft to fly although very slow.

Plane and pilot did a comparison of 5 seaplanes which canoe found on the internet.

 

Very nice. Should be a lot of fun to fly. Especially if you have a lake place and somewhere to hangar her.

 

Fold the wings and pull it into a boathouse

 

PIREP please. I've been toying with the idea.

 

Saw one parked on the street in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC back in 2021.

 

Homewood, CA (Lake Tahoe). What lake are you on in AZ?

 

First congratulations; that's an enviable position to be in. I don't have anything too useful to add,..but that never stopped me before

I talked to them at Sun n Fun this past year and also stopped at Doc Browns. I agree with Mike that there are several other options for less(who knows how they compare for flying?), but none have the folding wings. For a lake house that might be a huge advantage to be able to store in a smaller covered area like boathouse or garage.

I'm normally opposed to composite airframes vs aluminium, but for a seaplane composite is a huge advantage. No corrosion issues, though at SnF Icon told me that the salt water package is like $15K. I looked around trying to find any metal to treat. They also said there were some minor improvements this year. Can't remember what they were. Prop might have been one? It's a really nice plane, and it has a great safety record(ignoring pilot error).

I also really like the Rotax product line. 80-160hp covers a lot of airframes. They have an enviable reliability record. And anecdotally from what I have seen, they make TBO more often than Lycoming and Continental. Yes, it sounds different, but if you use it regularly, it quickly sounds normal. Going between a Lyc 540 and a Rotax 912 constantly will be interesting. Not having to use 100LL(and in fact no lead is better for the 912), is great for a lakehouse. And with kids I just prefer avoiding leaded fuel. Probable can even get the required 91 octane at a marina without ethanol if desired, but having had a few water contamination issues at marinas myself I think a car gas station is safer; the Rotax runs just fine with ethanol

 

Lots of metal on the airplane, e.g. every screw and bolt. Remember this is an amphib, so a big item is wheels. Learn how to change and pack the wheel bearings, as it will become a frequent maintenance item (hint: buy 'tractor' parts, same pn as airplane parts at half the cost). Every other bearing on the airplane as well, e.g. the entire flight control system. Any water is the issue, salt water just compounds things by 100's of %. Salt water package likely includes annodizing a lot of parts that normally come with just primer (or bare).

 

Very cool. Congrats.

 

I've heard the going rate for ELSA's land only is 10-11% hull value per year. So 7%(16/235) for an SLSA land/sea doesn't sound terrible, if that makes you feel any better.

What I find annoying is how hard it is to get higher than $1mil for liability. Damaging a plane would suck, but even without insurance, it wouldn't be a huge life effect. However, hitting somebody(s) on the ground could wipe away your life's work, and $1mil doesn't go very fair these days.

 

Wow. That thing just disappears when folded.