What is the current status of A5 flight testing?
Following the A5’s first flight in July of 2008, ICON immediately embarked on a thorough engineering flight test program. ICON has completed airworthiness testing, and technical refinement is substantially complete as well. The two remaining major flight testing objectives are evaluating spin resistance and refining directional stability, which are currently underway and are scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2011. Upon the completion of the flight testing, the production design will be finalized, and two production prototypes will be built and tested to demonstrate that Federal Aviation Administration requirements and ASTM standards are met.
What other work remains before the A5 enters production?
ICON’s current focus in engineering is the completion of “loft freeze”, the point at which all the outer mold lines are fixed so that drawings for the major components of the A5’s composite airframe can be sent to suppliers for production. The loft freeze will occur once the flight testing is complete and ICON engineers are fully satisfied that the A5 is not only safe, but also has forgiving flight characteristics while still being fun to fly.
The next step will be preparing the A5 for production. A significant part of that preparation will be to parametrically model each and every component of the A5, including tolerances, materials, manufacturability, and weight. ICON is using CREO Parametric CAD software, which is considered to be an industry standard in the Aerospace, Automotive, Consumer Product, and Medical Device industries. Production preparation will also include finalizing industrial design details and design for manufacturing
When will A5 production begin?
A5 production is currently scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter of 2012.
Will the A5 be offered as a kit?
No. The A5 will only be offered as an FAA-approved, ready-to-fly LSA.