ĭue to the China–United States trade war, Chinese investment needed by the company was cut in August 2019. He stayed on at the company in an undefined role and President and COO Thomas Wiener headed the company on an interim basis until July 2020, when Jason Huang was named president. Hawkins resigned as CEO in November 2018. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause was 'the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from terrain while maneuvering at a low altitude.' The board found no fault with the aircraft. Karkow had been involved in the design of the A5's folding wings as well as parts of the aircraft's control systems. Killed in the accident were two Icon employees: lead engineer and chief company test pilot Jon Karkow, who was the pilot in command and Cagri Sever, Icon's director of engineering, who was a passenger on the flight. In May 2017, a factory-owned ICON A5 crashed on the shore of Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California, near the company's training facility. The CEO indicated that the company has the investors and funding required to continue operations through this period, before production is increased and the company can become profitable. The company also announced that, as a result of issues involving starting production, it would lay off 60 employees and terminate 90 contractors, leaving 160 employees at work.

Customer deliveries were announced as being delayed until 2017 at the earliest, due to the need to improve the manufacturing processes to build the aircraft design. In May 2016, the company announced that only 20 aircraft would be completed in 2016, instead of the previously planned 175 and that all these would go to training centers. A $25 million C round was closed in June 2011 and a $60 million D round was announced in June 2013. It completed its A round in June 2006 and its B round in July 2008. ICON Aircraft has completed four rounds of equity financing. It made its first flight in July 2014 and the company announced that the first customer deliveries were expected in May 2015. įrom 2008 to 2014, the proof of concept aircraft flew more than 700 development flights, and the construction of the first production aircraft began in early 2014. ICON has also acknowledged the possibility of releasing additional models in the future, but maintains that it will focus on the light-sport aircraft market. The company publicly launched the A5 in Los Angeles at a private event on June 11, 2008. Ī proof of concept aircraft was built in 2007–2008, and made its first flight in July 2008. The two met at Stanford University in a Product Design class in 1993. Strand's background is in product design, marketing, and finance, and he founded Freebord, a skateboard company. Hawkins had previously flown F-16s in the United States Air Force and Boeing 757s for American Airlines. Kirk Hawkins and Steen Strand founded the company in 2006. ICON Aircraft was founded in response to the 2004 Federal Aviation Administration establishment of the light-sport aircraft (LSA) class of aircraft and Sport Pilot certificate class of pilot. ICON is known for having brought significant excitement and publicity to the LSA industry since the A5's debut in 2008, although legal, financial and developmental issues, as well as a string of early accidents, have slowed company production and growth over the last six years.

It was founded in 2006 by two Stanford graduates, aviator Kirk Hawkins and product designer Steen Strand, to develop and certify the ICON A5 amphibious light sport aircraft (LSA). is a privately held aircraft manufacturing company headquartered in Vacaville, California, United States.

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