founded 2006 1 founders kirk hawkins steen strand headquarters vacaville california usa key people kirk hawkins ceo steen strand cbo chris dawson coo chris king cfo matthew gionta cto products light sport aircraft number of employees 100 2015 website www.iconaircraft.com icon aircraft is a privately held american aircraft design and production company . 2 it is currently working on the production of the icon a5 an amphibious light sport aircraft . 3 4 5 contents 1 history and financing 2 products 3 facilities 4 directors and advisors 4.1 directors 4.2 advisors 5 references 6 external links history and financing edit 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 . 6 7 8 kirk hawkins and steen strand founded the company in 2006 . 1 hawkins had previously flown f 16s 7 in the united states air force and boeing 757s for american airlines . strand s background is in product design marketing and finance and he founded freebord a skateboard company . 9 the two met at stanford university in a product design class in 1993 . 10 a proof of concept aircraft was built in 2007 2008 and made its first flight in july 2008 . 7 the company publicly launched the a5 in los angeles at a private event on june 11 2008 . 11 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 . 12 from 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 . 13 it made its first flight in july 2014 and the company has announced that the first customer deliveries are expected in may 2015 . 4 icon aircraft has completed four rounds of equity financing . it completed its a round in june 2006 and its b round in july 2008 . a 25 million c round was closed in june 2011 3 and a 60 million d round was announced in june 2013 . 14 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 15 16 products edit icon aircraft s first model is the icon a5 an amphibious two seat light sport aircraft to be priced at approximately 189 000 . its folding wings facilitate transportation and storage 8 and it will have a range of approximately 300 nautical miles 560 km and a top speed of 105 knots 120 mph . 17 the company has assigned nearly 1400 production positions as of august 2014 18 and anticipates the first customer delivery will occur in may 2015 . on july 28 2014 icon aircraft unveiled the first production icon a5 built with production tooling and using production methods and components . this aircraft successfully completed its first flight july 7 2014 . 19 in april 2016 the icon a5 purchaser s agreement was made public and was noted by the aviation media as containing many controversial elements not usually found in aircraft purchase agreements . these include contractually required pilot training maintenance agreements not to sue and a camera and recorder to monitor pilot behavior that is owned by the manufacturer but must be maintained by the owner . owners also must agree to be supportive of the company . in the case of a resale future owners are required to sign the same agreement or face penalties . there are indications that a number of a5 position holders have canceled their purchases based on the wording of the agreement . 20 21 in may 2016 the company admitted that the released contract had been a mistake . company ceo kirk hawkins stated it should not have gone out in the form it went out without an explanation . customers had a right to be taken aback . the company issued a revised contract that removed many but not all of the controversial elements . 15 22 facilities edit icon aircraft s headquarters are located in vacaville california where all manufacturing engineering design training sales and service functions are consolidated . 23 it also has an office in los angeles california where the company was founded . icon formerly operated an engineering and manufacturing facility in tehachapi california where the a5 was initially developed and tested . 24 on august 6 2012 it was announced that cirrus aircraft would become one of the key strategic supplier partners for the icon a5 amphibious light sport aircraft . the companies agreed that cirrus the manufacturer of the leading sr20 and sr22 lines of high performance single engine aircraft will produce a significant portion of the composite airframe components for icon aircraft in their grand forks north dakota facility . 25 directors and advisors edit directors edit bart becht former ceo of reckitt benckiser john dorton ceo and president of mastercraft satyen patel former head of nike inc. in asia linden blue vice chairman of general atomics advisors edit henio arcangeli jr. former president motorsports group company yamaha motor corporation usa david beach professor of manufacturing stanford university philip m. condit former chairman and ceo of boeing esther dyson journalist and entrepreneur president edventure bruce holmes former director at nasa david kelley chairman and founder of ideo troy lee president troy lee designs references edit a b maas john june 2009 . just plane fun . stanford university alumni association . retrieved 17 april 2015 . guest speaker bringing the sport back to flying kirk hawkins . plane & pilot magazine . retrieved 2009 07 19 . pasztor andy 2008 06 12 . start up wants a new audience to take to the air . the wall street journal . retrieved 2009 07 19 . a b haines thomas b. 28 july 2014 . first production icon a5 makes a splash at airventure . aircraft owners and pilots association . retrieved 29 january 2015 . faa audit clears icon a5 for production . australian flying.com . yaffa publishing group . retrieved 19 june 2015 . the ultimate flying machine sexy as a sports car portable as a jet ski . wired . 22 december 2008 . a b c pae peter 28 july 2008 . built for just plane fun . los angeles times . retrieved 29 january 2015 . a b pappalardo joe 11 june 2008 . icon a5 folding plane looks like sportscar costs as much as maserati . popular mechanics . retrieved 29 january 2015 . steen s new project icon aircraft . freebord . 17 july 2008 . retrieved 29 january 2015 . being iconic . eaa sport aviation magazine . retrieved 2011 11 10 . icon aircraft launches new amphibious sport plane . aero news network . retrieved 2011 11 08 . icon aircraft the company . icon aircraft . retrieved 29 january 2015 . icon aircraft constructs and flies first production a5 pdf . icon aircraft . 28 july 2014 . retrieved 29 january 2015 . moore jim 20 june 2013 . icon raises 60 million to produce a5 . aircraft owners and pilots association . retrieved 29 january 2015 . a b niles russ may 25 2016 . icon delays deliveries amends purchase agreement . avweb . retrieved may 28 2016 . pope stephen may 26 2016 . what s next for icon . flying magazine . retrieved june 9 2016 . hirschman dave august 2009 . starting a revolution pdf . aopa pilot . retrieved 29 january 2015 . tencate supplies composites to icon aircraft a5 amphibious sport aircraft . tencate . 16 september 2014 . retrieved 29 january 2015 . icon constructs and flies first production a5 . icon aircraft . 28 july 2014 . retrieved 29 january 2015 . avweb staff . icon s buyer contract restricts liability . avweb . retrieved april 4 2016 . bertorelli paul . icon a dark view of the customer relationship . avweb . retrieved april 4 2016 . bertorelli paul 26 may 2016 . icon production delays the inevitable explained . avweb . retrieved 28 may 2016 . icon to relocate to vacaville . general aviation news . 14 may 2014 . retrieved 15 may 2014 . backstage with a rock star . plane & pilot . retrieved 2009 11 17 . cirrus aircraft news icon aircraft and cirrus aircraft to partner on the production of the icon a5 amphibious sport plane . cirrusaircraft.com . 2012 08 06 . retrieved 2014 05 16 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title icon aircraft & oldid 743512401 categories aircraft manufacturers of the united statesmanufacturing companies based in californiacompanies based in los angelesmanufacturing companies established in 20052005 establishments in california navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 00 29 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile 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