First Customer Aircraft To Be Delivered At AirVenture

OK... it took nearly forever... and a lot of 'Bravo-Sierra' was transmitted along the way... but it appears that something that looks like an Icon A5 may actually be ready for delivery... maybe. 

FAA officials have reportedly completed a comprehensive compliance audit at ICON Aircraft's Tehachapi, California, facility. This allowed them to issue the first S-LSA airworthiness certificate for ICON's A5 Light Sport amphibian. With this milestone complete, ICON claims that they will now begin customer deliveries for its aircraft, which they claim to have a reported backlog of more than 1250 orders.

"The successful completion of the FAA's audit of the A5 is one of the most critical milestones in our company's history," said ICON Aircraft CEO and Founder Kirk Hawkins. "This means that after years of intense development by the ICON team, our customers and the media will finally get a chance to experience the A5 first hand and form their own opinion..."

Prior to the FAA audit, ICON performed extensive testing, including the successful structural test of the airframe of Engineering Serial Number 2 (ESN-2) in February. ICON also flew the first customer aircraft (ASN-001) for the first time on 24 April.

The FAA audit team reviewed ICON's production, quality, and compliance procedures and manuals. The audit team included Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) from the Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, and Los Angeles offices, who assessed the manufacturing facility and performed the airworthiness review of the first customer A5.

"There were no major issues during the FAA inspections," said ICON VP of Engineering Bill James. "The LSA market, and aviation in general, is about to get a real shot of adrenalin. We have the ability to change the aviation landscape with an incredible aircraft that brings aviation and powersports together in one exciting package. This is a critically important achievement on that path."

ICON will deliver its first customer aircraft on July 20 at AirVenture. Several A5 aircraft will be present at the event in late July, with both owner demonstration flights and static displays. The company will transition serial production to its new 140,000-square-foot facility in Vacaville, California, in September.

(Images provided by ICON Aircraft)

FMI: www.iconaircraft.com