ICON Aircraft co-founder and former Air Force pilot, Kirk Hawkins, passed away Tuesday in a wingsuit accident in the Swiss Alps. Hawkins jumped out of a helicopter with three other wingsuit divers near the 13,000-foot peak of the Eiger before crashing into trees on his descent.
Hawkins’s death was announced by his ICON co-founder Steen Strand on LinkedIn, where Strand eulogized his late friend.
“Kirk was the most extraordinary person I’ve ever known, or ever will know. He started life with nothing and climbed to the top–Clemson, Stanford, the Air Force (F-16s), then Stanford again for business school. At ICON, he led the charge to create the most badass recreational aircraft in history. His new startup was poised to transform the world again,” Strand wrote.
After starting ICON in 2006, Hawkins appeared at EAA AirVenture in 2008 and announced the company’s ambitions to develop an upcoming seaplane, which would become the ICON A5. Hawkins led the company as CEO from its inception until 2018, when he was forced out of the company.
“And in the end, he went out as he lived — doing something thrilling that he loved. I just wish it happened 30 years later,” Strand continued.
Ambitions to sell thousands of seaplanes after building big factories was unrealistic.
ICONU would b more appropriate.
Sad ending tho.