Tampa, Florida (CNN) — I have zero experience in flying planes.
In fact, I never even considered trying it.
Nonetheless, a two-seater amphibious plane that looks like a sports car, steers like a jet ski, and is extremely intuitive while swooping down Florida’s Tampa Bay on a beautiful November morning. He enthusiastically takes over the control of the ICON A5. According to the company, even a novice can learn to fly in less than 30 hours.
At 23 feet long and weighing 1,510 pounds, the aircraft is known as the Sea Light Sport Plane.
Unmatched on the market, it is designed to give you the freedom to focus on your flight without worrying about whether your plane will react unexpectedly.
Now that you have control, your whole body will tense for 5 minutes. Are you really ready to pilot this shiny new machine all by yourself?
But the fact that the A5 is made for people like me and designed to drive like a car is reassuring.
Plus, the fact that Icon CEO and founder Kirk Hawkins is next to me in the cockpit isn’t bad either. He can take over control at any time.
So far, so good.
Glide smoothly over nearly 1,000 feet and take in the views in comfort. The beautiful Fort de Soto Park does not disappoint.
Dreamy white sand dune swells are surrounded by water that should be in the Caribbean Sea.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge with its long series of cables is equally impressive.
The adrenaline is still racing. And as most surreal experiences go, it just keeps getting better and better.
For starters, there’s another ICON A5 on my left, which is thrilling in itself. They fly in formation, and my job is to imitate their movements. You might think this is intimidating, but it’s not.
It’s just plain fun.
It’s the music that hits Hawkins’ ears. He is the brains behind this new plane, an idea that took 10 years to come up with.
A former Air Force F-16 pilot and Stanford Business School graduate, he has spent most of his adult life making sport flying accessible to the masses.
“Our idea was to create an airplane that would allow the average human to go out and experience the world without the burden of becoming a professional pilot,” he says.
So it makes sense that the dashboard would look similar to what you’d find on your car. There are some gauges that I am not aware of.
“This is Apple’s approach,” he says. “You humanize it, make it intuitive, easy and cool.”
He just opened a flight training facility at Peter O. Knight Airport because he believes people want to fly (and buy) his planes.
Located on Davis Island, five minutes from downtown Tampa, the island is rich in both beauty and yachting.
The company’s other training center is located in Vacaville, California, where ICON is headquartered.
open your eyes and open the window
By 9am, it’s time for a short landing pit stop.
Hawkins takes over control. I was too busy learning to fly in formation (which non-pilots don’t try often), too busy interviewing Hawkins to even think about learning water landing myself. Hawkins says most people can learn it in about 30 minutes.
After some negative G’s and 360 degree turns, it’s time for a fun roller coaster ride in the sky. Also, since it’s an open-air flight, I’ll be flapping my arms from time to time. Because I can.
Hundreds of feet above the water, it’s easy to spot boaters, flocks of pelicans, and even rays waving at us.
“Let’s park here, stop for a minute, and get out,” he says.
I’m sure he’s joking, right? However, after landing the plane on the water, he unbuckles his seat belt, only to discover that he is not.
Seconds later, he flew off the roof and climbed onto a wing that doubled as a diving board. Suddenly, this felt like sunbathing on a boat rather than an outing on a plane.
Everything is dyed in a mesmerizing golden color. You can imagine having a picnic on the nearby beach. Or take a plane for a weekend camping trip somewhere far away.
The plane has a range of about 430 miles (approximately 430 miles) on a full tank, making it suitable for short vacations.
“This is all about inspiring people,” he explains. “Once you learn to fly, you will never be the same. You will see the sky differently, you will see the earth differently.”
Designed to make flying easy
“The primary motor skills for flying an airplane are pretty straightforward,” says Hawkins. “First day with an instructor, within 30 minutes you will land alone.”
That said, we took the time to design it for safety. The goal of the spin-tolerant aircraft feature is to ensure that the aircraft does not lose control even if the pilot makes a mistake.
As a backup there is a full airplane parachute.
“The spin-tolerant feature is important because it’s the first airplane the FAA has determined to be spin-tolerant,” said Chris Dupin, a flight instructor and U.S. Air Force officer. “A significant number of common aviation fatalities are from loss of control incidents involving unrecoverable spins at base to the final turn.”
In addition, there is an angle of attack indicator that is not found on ordinary light aircraft. Shows where the wing is happy (green) or likely to stall (red).
The pilot’s job is to keep the wing within the green or yellow section of the gauge. This is part of the reason why taking off and landing on water is so easy to learn.
become a barnstormer
“Kirk Hawkins has a very creative and innovative idea for more intuitive pilot training. First teach the feeling of flying, then the principles and structures. is different from how people learn to drive,” said a veteran aviation journalist and author of “Crash Detectors.”
“The world is facing a shortage of pilots, so the idea of teaching differently to accommodate different learning styles can expand the pool of potential pilots well enough.”
In that regard, about 40% of people who have paid a deposit for the ICON A5 are not pilots.
After an hour and a half of flight time, Hawkins lands us on the airport runway. This is a maneuver that can be tackled after mastering water landings a few times. It’s a bit tricky as it requires accuracy and knowledge of crosswinds.
At this point, if I owned this plane, I would hook it up to the trailer, fold the wings, go home, and park it in the garage.
secure air time
Get in line if you want your own ICON A5. Over 1,800 customers have deposited deposits.
If you’re not ready to spend $207,000 and buy one, you have the option to stop by ICON’s training facility in Tampa or one in Vacaville, California, and fly for a day.
An introductory sport flying class is $595 for 1.5 hours. Getting a sports pilot license requires you to spend 20 hours or more, and prices vary.
Sarah Sekula is an Orlando-based travel writer and video host. Follow her adventures on @wordzilla and @wordzillapics.
