Icon Opens Training Center in Tampa

Vacaville, California-based Icon Aircraft has opened a new training center in Tampa, Florida, where pilots and non-pilots can come and fly the Icon A5 amphibious light sport aircraft. The training center opened yesterday at the Peter O. Knight Airport in downtown Tampa.

“Peter O. Knight Airport is the ideal base for this because of Florida’s year-round flying weather and outstanding water flying, combined with the airport’s easily accessible urban location,” said Icon’s founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins.

Icon is offering a full range of training services, from a 90-minute demo flight to a full sport pilot course with a seaplane endorsement, which is expected to take about 15 days. Icon will have five A5s based at the new training facility. Once checked out, customers can also rent the A5s without the need for an instructor on board.

The cost for the intro flight is $595. The other programs are billed based on time at $250 per hour for the airplane, $95 for the instructor and $299 for the books. Ground instruction is bundled for each course.

Icon plans to open a third training facility in Texas early next year.

The programs have already been put through the test at Icon's headquarters in Vacaville, where about 40 people have been trained to fly the A5. For more about Icon's training program, see the full feature in the January issue of Flying.