The folks over at Icon Aircraft will even train you to fly your new A5 amphibian.

Being classified as a sports plane, you only need 20 hours of training for your license to fly.

If you don’t have one, they will train you over the course of a few weeks before you take delivery of your plane.

Training will run about $3000 to $5000.  Hey, if you can afford the very affordable price tag of the A5 [$139K], then a few extra Gs should be nothing.

Delivery is still expected to be in late 2010… oh, the waiting is the hardest part.

Hey, why not go get your license now if you haven’t already?!

If Apple was in the aerospace industry, they couldn’t have done a better job of designing a GOTTA HAVE IT! MUST HAVE IT!

I think of it as the Macintosh of sports planes. . . On my wish list to Santa. Drool….

I’ve had my eye on this baby since it’s inception. The Icon A5 amphibian light sport aircraft.

Price: $139,000

Deposit: $5000 fully transferrable if you have buyer’s remorse.

Beautiful simple design – like a cross between a jet ski and a spaceship.

The interior is simple and sleek like a fine sports car with a stick in place of a steering wheel.

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All this is made possible by the FAA avaiation rule change in 2004 by creating a new catagory known as light-sport aircraft.

A mere 20 hours of flight school instead of the 40 hours needed for your standard private pilot license and you’re qualified to fly this baby.
If you don’t already have your pilot’s license, flight lessons will cost you around $5,000 in training fees.

First delivery is expected Q3 2011 plenty of time to get some flying in before 2012, lol.
Powered by a Rotax 100hp engine has a range of about 300nm and speed of 120. 100hp.

Damn, there’s SeaDoos with more horsepower than that!

Due to the aircraft’s class restrictions you’ll have to decide between a rocket safety chute (one, please) or automatic wing folding.

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Come on, put a little muscle into it.  Hey, I’ve got hand cranked windows in my truck and I’m cool with that.

One less thing to break.  Besides, I’ll take safety over convenience any day.

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If you really can’t wait and want to be first in line, you can plop down 100K deposit and be one of the first to get delivery.

“The first 100 ICON A5 customer deliveries will be exclusive A5 Limited Edition (A5 LE) models.

Reserving an A5 LE, and thereby joining the ICON 100, requires a higher deposit of $100,000 USD.”

Coolness:

Take off and land on land or WATER!

As new planes go, price isn’t in the stratosphere

Easy to fly

Awesome design

Bummers:

Have to wait for a while before they’re ready for delivery

A few rules of the sky:

Fly below 10,000 feet

Only day flying with clear skys and stay away from busy airports.

The coolness factors WIN

Now where did I put my checkbook?

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Icon: southern california manufacturer of light sport aircraft Icon A5.

Founder: Kirk Hawkins, 41, former F16 fighter pilot with degrees in engineering and business from Stanford.