ICON Aircraft will be showcased in Discovery Channel's Next World series in an episode called "Future Flight," which takes to the skies of tomorrow on-board shape-shifting planes, top-secret military aircraft, and jets with self-healing wings. Discovery's production crew visited Los Angeles in late June to interview Founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins for their feature on the ICON A5.

Discovery Channel
Wednesday, Sept. 17
8:00 pm (check your local listings)
Episode will also air on Discovery's HD Theatre channel (date and time TBD).

For more information, visit http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/next-world/next-world.html.

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July 15, 2008 - ICON Aircraft achieved an important milestone with a successful maiden test flight of the ICON A5 amphibious sport plane. ICON's team of engineers completed the full-scale prototype flight on Wednesday, July 9 at an undisclosed lake in California.

ICON Lead Aero Engineer and Test Pilot Jon Karkow conducted the test flight, which demonstrated the performance and flying characteristics during take-off, landing and low speed maneuvering flight. In addition, the aircraft's performance during water operations was evaluated. Karkow is an accomplished test pilot who has flown first flights for many notable aircraft including the world record setting Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer flown by the late Steve Fossett.

"Everything went as well as an initial test flight possibly could go; so I was very pleased," said Karkow, a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. "The aircraft flew exceptionally well and met or exceeded our design expectations. The A5 seems to be a great aircraft right out of the box."

The full-scale prototype aircraft is scheduled to undergo several phases of test flights over the next year before the design is finalized. After flight testing, a pre-production model will be built to verify all the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and ASTM compliance standards before entering production in late 2010.

"I'm proud of what this team has accomplished," said ICON VP of Engineering Matthew Gionta, who served as Mission Director of the flight. "I've been in the business of designing and building aircraft my entire career and I've never worked with a more talented team. When you get bright people pulling hard toward a common goal, then really incredible things start to happen. The ICON A5 is an example of this. It's really an amazing aircraft."

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- OUTSIDE: The Future Is Now

- LOS ANGELES TIMES: Built For Just Plane Fun

- SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Plane that Flies, Folds, Tows - Takes to the Water

- POPULAR SCIENCE: Foldable Flyer

- POPULAR MECHANICS: Flight of Fancy

- WALL STREET JOURNAL: Start-Up Wants A New Audience To Take to the Air

- BUSINESSWEEK: ICON - The People's Plane

- POPULAR MECHANICS: ICON A5 Folding Plane Looks Like Sportscar, Costs as Much as Maserati

- KCBS LOS ANGELES: New Concept Aircraft Revealed

June 12, 2008 - ICON Aircraft officially introduced the company and its breakthrough product, the ICON A5, at a private unveiling last night in Los Angeles. The two-seat sport plane features an amphibious design with retractable landing gear for flying off land and water, plus several patent-pending technologies highlighted by folding wings that allow the plane to be easily stored and towed on the road with a trailer.

"ICON Aircraft is bringing the freedom, fun and adventure back into aviation by building aircraft that evoke an emotional response like great sports cars do," founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins told a gathering of hundreds of guests that included aviation hero Buzz Aldrin and motorsports legend Jeremy McGrath. "The sport is now back in flying."

A team of product designers that have worked for leading automotive manufacturers contributed to the ultra-modern industrial design of the ICON A5. A full-scale prototype is scheduled to begin flight tests this summer under the guidance of ICON's engineering team, which is comprised of former top engineers at Scaled Composites, a leading producer of specialty aircraft like the Voyager, GlobalFlyer, and X PRIZE-winning SpaceShipOne.

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June 12, 2008 - ICON Aircraft officially opened its order book on June 12 with the launch of its website. Consumers are now able to place reservations for early positions to buy the ICON A5 sport plane with a deposit of $5,000. Go to Buy Your Model to secure your A5 now.

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June 11, 2008 - The team of four engineers and four fabricators at ICON's engineering facilities in Tehachapi are busy constructing the final pieces of ICON's full-scale prototype aircraft. The prototype is on schedule for initial flight testing this summer by ICON Aero Engineer and Test Pilot, Jon Karkow. Tehachapi is 100 miles north of Los Angeles near the Mojave Desert, an area that is world-renowned as a hotbed for aerospace engineering shared by facilities such as Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Scaled Composites, and Edwards Air Force Base.

Matthew Gionta, ICON's VP of Engineering who leads the Tehachapi team, has worked on many innovative aviation projects, including X-Prize winner SpaceShipOne, so he knows the next few weeks are critical. "For those of us who have done this for a living for a long time, this is about as good as it gets", Matthew says. "Working on a flying prototype aircraft is about the most rewarding job we could have."

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