Cirrus Aircraft

Icon Aircraft and Cirrus Aircraft have collaborated for the production of Icon A5 amphibious light sport aircraft (LSA).

The majority of the composite airframe components for the aircraft will be built by Cirrus, which is the manufacturer of SR20 and SR22 single-engine aircraft.

Icon Aircraft founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins said that Cirrus’s experience, specifically in composite sandwich-production techniques, made it a suitable production partner for the company.

"The core capabilities of Icon and Cirrus are highly complementary, and this new pairing creates extraordinary potential for the future of aviation," he said.

Under an agreement, Cirrus will manufacture all composite structures for Icon at its Grand Forks, North Dakota facility, together with the component production lines of SR20 and SR22 aircraft.

“We believe that light sport aircraft and sport pilots are critically important to the growth and future of aviation."

Cirrus Aircraft CEO Dale Klapmeier said that the Icon A5 was a most innovative LSA on the market.

"We believe that light sport aircraft and sport pilots are critically important to the growth and future of aviation," Klapmeier added.

With the delivery of composite assemblies from Cirrus and other suppliers, Icon will manage all the design, system integration, final assembly, finishing, and testing at its Tehachapi facility in California, US.

Component production is scheduled to start at the end of 2012, while completion of the initial production aircraft is planned for the summer of 2013.

Icon is anticipating manufacturing about 50 airframes during the initial 12-month production period and has to increase its capacity to 250 to 300 in the second 12-month duration.

More than 850 order deposits for the A5 aircraft have been received by Icon to date.

Image: A5 light sport aircraft is ICON’s first plane that incorporates enhanced aeronautical engineering new product design. Photo: courtesy of Icon aircraft.