@weatherman:
A pilot licensed with a Sport Pilot rating cannot fly at night. Someone with a private pilot or higher rating can fly an LSA at night, provided that it is properly equipped and certified for night flight by the aircraft's manufacturer

zoomie

@tempo_kid92

That's what checklists are for. Although, it IS one more system that can fail.

Amphibs are the only LSA's that can have retractable gear. All others are required to be fixed landing gear.

zoomie

@wschenk:
I'd imagine it has beefy wig root locking pins in the carry through spar, like the Vought Corsair used to.

ShinySideUp

You guys missed the main point of the design, its AMPHIBIOUS. These guys must have a great PR firm, cause this story is everywhere in aviation media today. As usual, treat with suspicion until a prototype flies - anyone can mock up a CG render to show investors...

ShinySideUp

@icegnome: Thanks. Yeah, I've know weirdos that will go out and buy school buses for the novelty of it. I actually worked with one character that went and bought an old locomotive and placed train tracks on his property just because he thought it would be nice for his kids (and apparently he has too much money). So yeah, not a bad price.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

I can totally see Mel Gibson and Bruce Spence cackling as they fly away in this thing.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

This is a very nice looking plane, and actually the folding wings are a very practical improvement. It makes the 1320 lbs plane actually trailerable, I would guess. So, no it's not a flying car but it means that you could actually keep your own plane on your own property and take it to the local airport when you wanted to go out for a day of flying, significantly reducing the cost of keeping a plane at the airport and offering the advantage of being able to take it somewhere else without flying it (important since you can't fly overnight in an LSA).

weatherman

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: [www.iconaircraft.com]

icegnome

Site says base model is $139,000 ... which is.... really strangely affordable.... you know... for an airplane....

icegnome

@GeekyNerdGuy: Getting out of the bathtub isn't alway "death-free." This is "less lethal!"

zenpoet

.@mikejonas: Can you link where you saw that?

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

It's pissing me off though, i can't find the final price on the thing, anybody happen to see it?

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

IMHO, LSA + Retractable Landing Gear = Bad Idea.
Just one more thing to forget.
This thing looks awesome though. I'd hit it.

tempo_kid92

This will be useful for our future society where everyone flies everywhere instead of driving.

But, it will have to learn to hover for the mid-air stop lights.

adamator

@HawkSkater0: That's a $5000 *deposit*. Four months before delivery you have to pony up an additional $45K or so, then pay another $50000 on top of that when it comes time to pick it up.

mikejonas

I'm a pilot. The parachute is pretty standard on most new private planes now, but they are only used for emergency. You would never use one to land unless forced to, like if wings fell off of something. (Which, given that they fold, doesn't seem totally outlandish.) If they engine died most of these places -- especially something as light as this -- has a decent glide ratio so you should be able to take it down in one piece.

Still, pretty neat. I'd rather spring for a cirrus or something that had more speed and range, but cool idea.

wschenk

@snakepliskin: Yeah, I've always bee n a truck person myself.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

@TheAdAgency:

The front isn't where all the weight is and should also be the last to touch terra firma. Most planes have a much weaker front gear (or tail gear for tail-dragger types) than the gear under the wings.

fsusmithc2

@GeekyNerdGuy: There was an unnamed 92BLS parked about 1/2 block from that building, and not surprisingly I was just thinking the exact same thing.

92BuickLeSabre

that looks really sweat, $5000 isn't too bad... compared to a leer jet.

HawkSkater0

That baseball player guy had a plane with a built-in chute too -- didn't help when he hit that building.

GeekyNerdGuy

I know it doesn't take much of the load, however the front landing gear looks scarily dainty.

TheAdAgency

So does that mean we're closer to flying cars. Cause i kind of need a flying truck.

snakepliskin

hello, john denver here, i personally think this plane would be perfect for a nice safe flight near the beach with a giant spliff hanging out of your mouth while you reflect on all the crappy music you once farted out about mountains and roads and country boys and pot and....

ravedown

Sadly, this is just another installment in a long line of airplanes-for-everyone stories (with no viable prototypes) which is more about trolling for investors' hard-earned dollars than actually building and selling aircraft.

Ednonymous

@zoomie: oh, interesting distinction. I thought it was the class of plane, not the class of license. Good to know!

weatherman

@ravedown: ROFL

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

Excuse me, but with regards to use of the parachute, the FAA would have to be notified, and they would investigate the situation. Any real pilots out there want to confirm/clarify my statement?

Open_universe

@ravedown: Yeah, John, me too. Wouldn't you like a plane like the "Long EZ", designed by Burt Rutan, though? I had to put the auxiliary fuel valve in a weird location, though. You don't mind, right?

ninjagin

Hrm.

Putting cool plastic trim around old style steam guages is not going to make it a friendlier aircraft. EFIS displays are getting reasonably priced.

The big plus is the ability to trailer the plane, so it fits in your lifestyle in roughly the same way that a boat or dirt bike or other such toy does.

@ninjagin do remember that Burt didn't put the fuel lever in a weird-ass position. He just reinforced the fuel lines that ran along the bottom of the plane so that you wouldn't have to put the fuel lever in a weird-ass position.

Which brings to mind the real problem. The thing that makes planes crash is generally not structural failure but generally things like weather, running out of fuel at an inopportune moment, or controlled flight into terrain.

There is a fine line between encouraging people who might otherwise have not purchased their own aircraft to buy one and getting dumbasses in the air.

cmowire

@Open_universe:
I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Anyway....

The FAA has approved ballistic recovery parachute systems on some installations. The BRS is isn't meant for routine use...its a last resort, such as catastrophic structural failure. Similar in use to the ejection seat of jet fighters. Most pilots would rather just try to land the aircraft in cases of engine failure. So in case of an accident, yes the FAA/NTSB would get involved after the fact.

Contrary to an earlier comment, most new private aircraft do not have a parachute as a standard install. Only Cirrus makes aircraft with parachutes as standard. A few others have them as options. Certainly not most though.

zoomie

@Ednonymous: Totally agree. In my mind, any offer of a great new airplane accompanied only by rendered photos means nothing more than "give us a deposit and we MIGHT deliver something in, oh, 10-15 years".

Not to mention that planes like this are EXTREMELY limited in luggage capacity, speed, number of seats, acceptable flying conditions, etc. You'd be lucky to get your wife and her purse in this thing without overloading it. And my guess is you wouldn't be able to fly at night or in cross winds exceeding 20 mph.

You'd get more versatility out of a 1985 Honda CRX.

redman042

@mikejonas: Not to mention it says "First customer deliveries are expected in late 2010". Long time to have that kind of money tied up but I guess if you can afford it, it doesn't matter.

allstarecho

Nothing beats my powered paraglider - folds up and goes in the back seat of my car, and costs less than $6k. For real: [uk]

+ Watch video

notchent

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog:
The other huge piece of information that's missing on the website is a description of the proposed avionics.

ImmacolataCardinal

@weatherman: It's both. There is now a Sport Pilot license and Light Sport Pilot Aircraft category.

Learethak

what's the aerial equivalent for road rage?

wetboxersguy

@wetboxersguy: I don't know, but it would make for some excellent youTube footage :^)

banmojo

I want my own personal aircraft. So damned tired of airports with their incompetent intrusive security and the damned airlines with their cruddy small seats, cramped bathrooms, bitchy stewardesses, and lack of willingness to evolve into something better (sleeper section, anyone? fer fvcks sake already!)

But I'm not a gazzillionaire yet, so dream on boyo.

banmojo