Folding Plane Perfect For Drug Smugglers
Ah yes, another plane for the drug-smuggling readers out there. The ICON A5 is actually a luxury aircraft aimed at rich people that have more money than they know what to do with and don't want to bother going through all the training required for a regular pilot's license.
"We designed it so that people who don't know airplanes know that something has changed," Kirk Hawkins, ICON's chief executive officer, told Popular Mechanics.What's changed are federal regulations, which created a new form of airplane and a new kind of pilot license that requires less training and no medical check to obtain. The Federal Aviation Administration created the Sport Pilot category in 2004, but only now are players large and small entering this virgin market.
The plane has folding wings so you can store it in a garage, and comes with its own trailer. For safety, it has a parachute that will deploy and float you back to earth safely should you do something stupid while attempting to join the mile-high club. Which, incidentally, I'm a member of. I say alone counts.
A bunch more pictures (including folded wings and cockpit), along with a boring video of the plane's unveiling party, after the jump.
ICON A5 Folding Plane Looks Like Sports Car, Costs As Much As Maserati [popularmechanics]
Thanks Shawn, lets steal one and smuggle something from Mexico, like, oh I don't know, fireworks!
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