Icon Wants to Nudge Potential Buyers

The Icon A5 amphibian isn’t for everyone. It’s not very fast. It doesn’t really carry all that much, and it can’t fly a four-hour leg non-stop. But flying the light-sport Icon is one heck of a lot of fun when you’re able to peel off from cruising flight at 500 feet above a favorite lake and ease the throttle back for a water landing and lunch at an on-shore restaurant unreachable in a high-performance land plane.

Icon’s always been focused on people with the money and the desire for the kind of adventurous lifestyle owning the two-seater amphib can offer. Now—just when many in the industry are wondering how badly the second quarter sales numbers will be when they appear next month—comes a proposal from Icon designed to grab the attention of some of those would-be buyers. An Icon spokesman said, “We delivered more airplanes in June than we have in any month since last fall and have also been able to build an order backlog of nearly three months. More than ever, Icon stands for freedom, not confinement.” And for a short while, Icon also stands for free.

In order to take the guesswork out of aircraft ownership and focus on the adventures their airplane unlocks, anyone who purchases an A5 by September 30, 2020, can take advantage of Icon’s offer to cover all the airplane’s ownership expenses for the first year. The program includes the first year of scheduled maintenance, a voucher to cover transition training and a $15,000 rebate to cover hangar, fuel, and other ownership expenses.

To qualify, a buyer needs a 10 percent down payment (instead of the traditional 20 percent) before the September 30 deadline. Delivery positions are available between September 2020 and March 2021.

The company knows many interested people aren’t pilots and might be hesitant to try right now—Icon says they’ll fully refund a buyer’s down payment on an A5, for any reason within 5 days after the buyer’s demo flight.