Icon A5 is a pricey, if exhilarating, ticket to the skies
Tech Industry
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Have you ever wanted to fly a plane?
California based start up icon wants to make that dream a reality with A5.
It's a light sport plane that the company believes will kick off a new motor sport.
It takes a logical progression from jet ski to ATV to motor boats to this.
[SOUND] I had a chance to ride and test pilot the A5.
It's exhilarating, it's crazy, a little scary and above all, loads of fun.
But it's also crazy expensive.
The A5 costs $189,000 but there's already a huge backlog of orders.
If you put down a deposit today you'll get your plane sometime in 2019.
Why the demand?
Icon's pushing this as a plane that virtually anyone can fly.
Its winds fold up, so it's portable enough to store at home and haul with the car.
It doesn't need a proper airport.
You just need a long strip of land or sea to take off from.
How does it fly?
The control stick is responsive and it didn't take long for me to pick up on how everything worked.
My copilot, former Navy pilot and Icon's director of flight training, Did most of the flying and ran through a few tight turns, hops and skips across the water and some formation flying with its sister, A5.
So, is it worth it?
If you've got tons of cash to spend and an addiction to excitement, you might want to get in line now.
This is Roger Cheng with CNet News.
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