Jun 13 2008Folding 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!
Reader Comments
1. SmokingGirl - June 13, 2008 12:17 PM
Oh goodie, goodie gumdrops, I'm first. Yippee...and I'm first with an utterly ridiculous post. All my hopes and dreams are now complete and fulfilled. *sips coffee* Be a lawyer my mother said, own your own store my father said; well take that, parents. I'm first on a Geekologie post. Nah-nah.
2. Billy Avenue - June 13, 2008 12:21 PM
i'm so freaking proud of you smokingGirl!!!!! you are FTW!
3. SmokingGirl - June 13, 2008 12:28 PM
Thank you, Billy...Although I'm more proud of the fact that I taught myself how to drive a stick shift. *makes car shifting noises* I'm the F-1 racer of the Gulf Coast looking snazzy in my Chevy Aveo 5-speed. BooYah!
4. Quase - June 13, 2008 12:40 PM
Well, what could go wrong there?
5. Momboelitist - June 13, 2008 12:41 PM
Holy Crap SG, you certainly are posting a lot. Something makes me wonder if you have a project to work on?
I know, just taking a much needed break from being a genius at work, right?
6. dude - June 13, 2008 12:42 PM
ya, so, where the eff do the put the copious amount on yay or brown suga?? huh. poor excuse of a smuggling craft. bahhh.
7. hojo - June 13, 2008 1:12 PM
Looks pretty cool to me.
8. SmokingGirl - June 13, 2008 1:18 PM
I've hit a wall with my project, Scott...
9. Momboelitist - June 13, 2008 2:35 PM
A wall you say? Throw me an email and I'll try and help you thru it.
Now I see why you are posting so much, frustration. Just take a breath and a stiff drink and then if that doesn't work mail me with your thoughts. We'll get thru it!
After all, you are my best girl.....
No mom! Pleeeease, no more hitting!!! I can't take iii.....Hey wait, I'm bigger than you. Now who's in char.....NO! Please stop! I didn't mean it mommy!
10. feckless - June 13, 2008 4:38 PM
Smuggler's Blues was a great song.
11. Bob - June 14, 2008 11:51 AM
But does it fly?
Surely a plane launch needs to be oh I dunno.. at an airport?
12. Zippy - June 14, 2008 12:05 PM
It really is perfect for drug smugglers... Designers of the plane say that you can drop balloons filled with heroin into the gas tank and they will poop (I mean pop) out of the exhaust once you land.
13. duracell - June 15, 2008 2:15 AM
"Its just like a motorbike, you can go flying ... and ... yeah"
I sure wish i had a flying motorbike
14. guate6 - June 16, 2008 12:31 AM
Neat how at the beginning of the video, you see a Ferrari 430 and a Ford GT, then it transitions to a Prius (wtf?)
Interesting concept, but it'll never fly (!)
Manual transmissions FTW
15. guate6 - June 16, 2008 1:14 AM
Neat how at the beginning of the video, you see a Ferrari 430 and a Ford GT, then it transitions to a Prius (wtf?)
Interesting concept, but it'll never fly (!)
Manual transmissions FTW