Photo credit: The Drive
You’ve probably seen, or at least heard of, the ICON A5, but it’s currently the closest thing to a flying car that has actually hit the roads, waters, and skies. This high-wing, flying boat-type amphibious monoplane boasts a carbon fiber airframe and retractable undercarriage with seating for two people in an enclosed 46-inch-wide cockpit. It’s powered by a single 100 hp Rotax 912 iS engine driving a three-bladed pusher propeller, while Dornier-style sponsons provide hydrodynamic stability and also house the retracted main landing gear. Read more for another video, additional pictures and information.
Its wings can be folded aft for easy ground transport / storage and the factory installed equipment includes an angle of attack indicator as a safety enhancement for stall awareness, a feature not usually found in general aviation aircraft. Owners in the US get a whole-airframe Ballistic Recovery Systems parachute without additional cost for added safety.
“The A5 has been in development for more than a decade, and it has weathered its share of turbulence—several fatal, high-profile accidents, funding issues, manufacturing challenges, price increases that have bumped the price from an initial $189,000 to $389,000, and more. But the company has persisted and appears to be on even footing now, having opened a new factory in Tijuana that focuses explicitly on cranking out the carbon fiber wings and fuselage—a time-consuming, tricky process,” reports The Drive.
