Icon's A5 light sport plane takes to the skies of Manhattan (pictures)

The Icon A5 is a light sport plane designed for recreational use. It's amphibious, which means it can take off from and land on ground or water. Here, it's docked near a restaurant in North Manhattan.

The A5 isn't a large craft -- it's smaller than a two-seat compact car.

The top of the craft lifts up to let passengers in and out.

The controls are streamlined compared with those of a traditional plane. Each seat has a control stick, so either person can pilot the craft.

At $189,000, the A5 isn't cheap. But there's already a long backlog, so if you put down a $5,000 deposit now, you'll get your plane sometime in 2019.

I had a chance to fly in the A5, sitting in the pilot's seat and experiencing what it's like to control a small plane.

The controls are intuitive and responsive and fairly easy to pick up.

The A5 hums quietly as it moves away from the dock. Once we get a little distance, the pilot fires up the main engine.

Icon opted to start the test flight with a bit of formation flying. We ran through turns and runs side by side with another A5.

Our test run had us flying south down the Hudson River all the way to the Statue of Liberty, where we did a few laps around the landmark before heading back.

The plane's bottom is hollowed out like a boat hull, so it's a relatively soft landing when you get to the water. The pilot brought the A5 down for a few skips and bobs before reaccelerating and lifting off again.

Sitting in the co-pilot's seat (but largely flying the plane) was Jeremy Brunn, former Navy pilot and Icon's director of flight training. You need to take a three-week course with Icon before you can take your plane home.