ICON Aircraft plans to resume production of its A5 amphibious light-sport aircraft in 2027, with a new safety system designed to help pilots avoid landing-gear configuration errors, the company announced during EAA AirVenture.
ICON Sense, a new flight safety system developed with Avilution and Skytron Avionics, is designed specifically for the A5 and addresses the risks associated with operating an aircraft that can land on both runways and water.
The system is intended to provide pilots with additional situational awareness during these transitions, helping reduce the possibility of an incorrect landing-gear configuration. ICON described the technology as a significant step toward improving safety for amphibious flight.
The announcement comes as ICON prepares to restart A5 production in 2027. The company has positioned the aircraft as a recreational airplane designed to give pilots the flexibility to operate from both land and water, with the A5’s retractable landing gear and folding wings central to its design.
The return to production would mark another chapter for the A5, which has faced significant challenges since entering the market, including financial difficulties and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2024. The company’s assets were subsequently acquired by SG Investment America.
The company has not yet announced detailed production rates or delivery timelines for the 2027 restart.
“…unexpected handling dynamics and substantial damage to the aircraft.”
and to any living entities onboard.
Perhaps system could be useful for float planes which occasionally have a problem.
What ever happened to landing check lists?
How about something that instills. COMMON sense in pilots. The two well known accidents that I know of were human error.
Of course we’ll still market it like its a jetski, depict low level formation flying and tell customers they can get certified in 30 hours.
Since the Oshkosh airshow began in 1970, aviation writers have published the exaggerated claims and false promises of airplane purveyors promoting their dream airplanes in the muggy Wisconsin summer. Jim Bede’s BD-5 airplane is a textbook example of 5,000+ sold…then bankruptcy. Others followed Bede’s formula.
The Icon A-5 saga parallels Bede’s BD-5 in that many hopeful promises were made, monies were exchanged, and deliveries never arrived.
Today, I wonder who would buy an already failed, bankrupt, one design, novelty airplane company?
Did investor research show how many people today would spend nearly a half a million dollars for the novelty of a winged jet ski? Over the last decade those who believed they were able to fly an A-5 “anytime and anywhere they wanted to go” without much pilot training, airmanship skills, or proficiency…are dead. Even with the added safety of a ballistic recovery system parachute, skilled factory demo pilots, licensed & experienced pilot/owners, and wealthy sports celebrities have died from the obstacles, risks, and hazards inherent to flying this expensive toy airplane in narrow canyons, under bridges, in bays, lakes, rivers, and streams. In fairness, those who flew A-5’s from airports faired better. But flying from airports was not how the A-5 was being hyped. Where’s the thrill in that?
At Oshkosh 2026 the new Icon company may have believed that you would buy an A-5 today if you had insurance. It may be that to get insurance, the airplane would have to automatically put the wheels in the right place for ‘landing’ on pavement or water. Complex?
History shows more than 1,300 A-5’s were backordered, but fewer than 225 were delivered. The company had failed to deliver enough planes to make any profits.
Today’s investors may also believe that they can sell enough new A-5’s to make the company profitable. That remains to be seen.
So is this just another attempt at taking your money in exchange for the dream of taking delivery of an A-5 at some unspecified time in the future?
The Ikon A-5 will always be a non utility, sport, novelty, toy airplane for wealthy thrill seekers.
I you are one…have fun…it’s a good way to go.