ICON Aircraft Demonstrates its Safety Achievement
ICON Aircraft announced earlier this year that it successfully completed spin-resistance testing of its A5 amphibious Light Sport Aircraft to the standard specified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Part 23 certified aircraft.
It says this historic achievement will make the A5 the first conventional production aircraft to be designed to and fully meet this standard once it enters production.
Spin resistance, according to ICON Aircraft, represents a dramatic safety advancement for light aircraft that can significantly reduce accidents that occur as a result of stall/spins.
To visually demonstrate the effect a Spin-Resistant Airframe (SRA) can have in preventing stall/spin loss-of-control situations, ICON flew the A5 alongside a conventional “spin recoverable” aircraft and applied the same control inputs to both in an effort to initiate spins.
ICON Aircraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded in response to the new sport flying category created by the FAA in 2004.
Its first plane is the A5, an amphibious sport aircraft. The company says it has received more than 700 order deposits and is scheduled to start production of the A5 at the end of 2012. ICON Aircraft’s facilities are in Southern California, a hotbed for automotive design and aerospace engineering.
