ICON A5

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We've had another fatal crash. It's not been a good six months for Icon.

ICON Crash This one was very costly to them taking one of their employees.

Can they survive? I hope they do, but it's going to be tough.
 
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There is footage (online) of Roy Halladay flying right before the crash. But I don't think the video shows any part of the crash. I won't link to the footage, as it's chock-a-block full of cursing.

Regardless of what actually caused the crash, it certainly seems like he was flying irresponsibly.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet


Regardless of what actually caused the crash, it certainly seems like he was flying irresponsibly.


I saw it, happily without a sound track. The guy must have heard the "nearly impossible to stall" mantra during the ICON (cough) training and either didn't hear or wasn't told the part about it being possible to pull the wings off the thing. Just sad. I remember back to when Russell Munson went in too. Money is no substitute for brains.
 
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Money is no substitute for brains.


That's the real problem here. For what he paid for that thing, he could have purchased a much more proven aircraft. Along with some serious flight time with an instructor. The way they market that thing, it's nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. In flying altitude is your best friend. All this thing does is assemble a disastrous combination of low altitude "exhilarating" flying, coupled with inexperience in what is basically an unproven aircraft. That is marketed and sold to attract thrill seekers as a, "Jet Ski With Wings".

Who pays almost $400K for a brand new aircraft, which has you sign a clause in the contract that you won't sue the manufacturer? Or else be forced to pay another $10K. That's insane.

http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/icon-purchase/#.WgRHRrde6xo

"Still, if a buyer wants out of the no-sue clause, he or she can pony up $10,000 to do so."
 
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
The guy must ,,,, wasn't told the part about it being possible to pull the wings off the thing.


Is that what happened? If so, there is no excuse for an airplane that fails structurally before it's pilot grays out or is pulling so many "G's" that the energy dissipation scrubs off speed.

Over the years, I've been in some severe turbulence and absurdly rough conditions. Not once did I experience any form of structural damage.

There is no question that a good number of accidents happen during so called
"maneuvering" . In other words, while showing off or horsing an airplane around.
 
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I looked at the article about the earlier crash and it said the A5 only has a 345 mile range, that sounds really low for an airplane to me!
I know that's comparable to a car's range, but there are a lot more gas stations than small airports and you're just stranded if you run out of gas in a car, not potentially plummeting from the sky.
I have only have a tiny amount of experience flying in small planes, from Dallas to OK and back with a couple of coworkers who were both private pilots maybe half a dozen times, so I don't really know what I'm talking about here...just seemed to me that range is really low.
 
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
I looked at the article about the earlier crash and it said the A5 only has a 345 mile range, that sounds really low for an airplane to me!.......just seemed to me that range is really low.


Compared to other single engine light aircraft, it is. For example a Cessna 172, (the most produced light airplane ever built with over 44,000 manufactured to date), has a range of 736 miles. A Piper Arrow 897 miles. About the only thing that comes close is a Piper Super Cub, with a range of 360 miles. And it's a very slow flying airplane with a cruise speed of 97 knots, (112 MPH).

Another thing that gets me about that plane is the absence of outboard wing sponsons. It's mono hull design would seem to make it very easy to dip a wingtip into the water while taking off or landing in even a slight crosswind. If you look at about the closest thing to it, a Lake Aircraft Amphibian. It has outboard wing sponsons to aid in keeping the wings level while on the water. These are well proven aircraft, having been on the market for almost 50 years. By the way, in comparison to the Icon, it has a range of 1,036 miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Renegade

 
It was reported yesterday that the plane manufacturer recently announced an advisory about flying below an altitude of 300 feet. From the video, Halladay clearly was not following that warning. Even with 700 hours of previous flight experience, he had only owned A5 aircraft for a month. It seems that he was unwisely pushing its limits at the time of the crash. What a terrific baseball pitcher he was! Another senseless death.
 
Low time in airplane type should always be a caution for any pilot, regardless of their total time or experience. There is a reason why the airlines and the military utilize the High Minimums concept when transitioning from jet to jet, even with decades of experience and thousands of flight hours annotated in your logbook.

IMHO, the 700-800 hour experience level can be a problematic period for pilots. Speaking from experience, you are no longer a "basic" student pilot and may overestimate your ability to safely conduct low ceiling/viz approaches, over perform the aircraft, etc. As experienced aviators know, your window of comfortability expands/contracts based upon your time in type, recent currency, health status (colds, sleep patterns), flight route hazards/terrain, local/cross country flight, past experiences, etc.

IF the NTSB determines that Roy Halladay's own actions contributed to/caused his death, that would be tragic since he leaves behind a wife and kids. It wouldn't be the first time this has happened, nor, will it be the last.

Fly Safe,
d4d
"Advanced" student pilot
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
The guy must ,,,, wasn't told the part about it being possible to pull the wings off the thing.


Is that what happened? If so, there is no excuse for an airplane that fails structurally before it's pilot grays out or is pulling so many "G's" that the energy dissipation scrubs off speed.

Over the years, I've been in some severe turbulence and absurdly rough conditions. Not once did I experience any form of


The only airplane you can't break is a fly by wire aircraft whose computer won't let you. Snap inputs can break a plane and many have done exactly that. In your example you had probably slowed to maneuvering for instance for that reason. The more I look at the video it looks like he put it into a dive he was to low to recover from. I can't really tell if there was a structural failure. But believe me, if you go at it stupidly enough, you can and will break it.
 
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
I looked at the article about the earlier crash and it said the A5 only has a 345 mile range, that sounds really low for an airplane to me!


You're right, it is. But bear in mind this thing is positioned as a yacht toy or lake/seaside thrill machine. Big range and going from A to B are noy priorities. Going A to A while having fun is its mission.
 
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar


The only airplane you can't break is a fly by wire aircraft whose computer won't let you.


We operate an Extra 300L. I honestly believe I will break before the Extra 300L does. I'm sure some pilot could figure out a way to pull the 25G necessary to snap the spar. That guy is not me. I can only handle 3G. Operated within it's limits, it's unlikely to fail.

I don't know what happened. But wing failure is unacceptable in any aircraft operated in any reasonable manner.

I really dislike aircraft that have a history of inflight breakups. Something about that just does not sit well with me...
 
wing failure?

or pilot error?

Hard to tell, but you need a whole lot more power to keep up that kind of maneuvering before running out of energy...

Another celebrity that thinks they're a pilot kills themselves. A tragedy, to be sure, but it'll happen again...
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
It's hard to believe that today an aircraft manufacturer would market a plane this way. If "Non Pilots" coupled with "Low Flying" isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/plane-roy-halladay-crash-marketed-194500073.html

Not loading for me. States only available in the US.

They market cars that way. High power sports cars and only requirement is a drivers license.
 
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I've always like the Cessna Corvalis TTX which has a range of 1266 miles. Probably double the price of the ICON A5.






Here's a Cirrus which flies in right under $2M. Very nice looking aircraft. It was recently featured in Mens Journal in an article about airplanes you can own today.

 
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Originally Posted By: SatinSilver







I love the way they did not edit out the "stand" under the tail, holding up the model. But yes, very cool plane. It's about time we had small jet singles.
 
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