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 Previous Item - Philadelphia SPB PIREP
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Maazine Reviews of Icon A5 and Searey LSX |
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Don Maxwell - Jul 20,2015
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Don W.: For some reason, the text of this doesn't appear when I post it here (from my Mac)--but does in the reply below. Mystery!
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Don Maxwell - Jul 20,2015
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ICON A5 v. Searey LSX magazine reviews (caveat lector!)
Dave Hirschman's review of the Icon A5 in AOPA's Pilot magazine titled "This Changes Everything." Well... maybe so. But the performance numbers are surprisingly like the Searey's.
Below are verbatim copies, except:
—my cruise speed conversions enclosed in brackets [ ]
—bold and italics converted to normal text
======================================
Icon A5
PRICE: $197,000-$250,000
PERFORMANCE
Never exceed speed | 120 KCAS
Top speed | 95 KIAS
Cruise speed | 85 KTAS at 8000 feet [= ~82 IAS = 94 mph]
Gross weight | 1,510 lbs.
Useful load | 430 to 559 lbs.
Baggaage capacity | 60 pounds
Fuel capacity | 20 gallons
Fuel consumption | 3.8 gph at cruise
Range | 427 nm at economy cruise with 45 minutes reserve
Endurance | 5 hours
Stall | 45 KCAS with flaps up | 39 KCAS flaps down
Max demonstrated crosswind | 12 knots
Water takeoff distance: 920 feet at sea level and standard conditions; 2,000 feet at a density altitude of 7,000 feet. (Decrease takeoff distances by 10 percent for each 8 knots of headwind)
Water landing distance | 840 feet at sea level
Hard surface takeoff distance | 710 feet at sea level
Hard surface landing distance | 530 feet using short-field landing technique.
(AOPA PILOT, August 2015, 71)
SEAREY LSX
KitPrice .....................................$36,900
Estimated completed price......... $80,000–$105,000
Estimated build time.....................600-800 hrs ...........................(first-timer:800–1000hrs)
Number flying (at press time) …………….Over 500
Powerplant………Rotax 912ULS, 100hp@5800 rpm
Propeller..............WarpDrive 3-blade, composite
Power plant options .................Rotax 914, 115 hp
AIRFRAME
Wingspan ………………………………30.8ft
Landing Gear . . . Conventional, repositionable (electric)
Fuel capacity.......................... 22 gal (usable)
Maximum gross weight………………1430 lb (LSA), ………………………….1505 lb (Experimental)
Typical empty weight.......................... 980 lb
Typical useful load. . . . . 450 lb (LSA), 525 lb (Experimental)
Full-fuel payload . . . . 318 lb (LSA), 393 lb (Experimental)
Seating capacity ...................................2
Cabin width……………………………… 44 in
Baggage capacity ………………………….50 lb
PERFORMANCE
Cruise speed............................86–98 mph* [75-86 kts; altitude not given]
Maximum rate of climb............... 650–1100 fpm*
Stall speed (landing configuration)…………38 mph
Stall speed (clean)……………………….47 mph
Takeoff distance (land) ...................268–350 ft*
Takeoff distance (water) ..................350–472 ft*
Landing distance (land)…………………….325 ft
Landing distance (water) .......................350 ft
* Depending on engine.
Specifications are manufacturer’s estimates and are based on the configuration of the demonstrator aircraft.
(KITPLANES, July 2015, 9)
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Russ Garner - Jul 24,2015
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Don, as the WTOW gross weight goes up so does the stall speed does it not. Icon can now add 250lbs to the 1430lbs making the
gross weight 1680lbs.
| | Attachments:
FAA grants Icon A5 weight-increase
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Steve Kessinger - Sep 22,2015
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I wonder how much of that weight is the cockpit frills? Take it back to a stripped down front office and it won't be as sexy but will perform better.
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Don Maxwell - Jul 24,2015
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Right, Russ. But unless the FAA also raised the maximum stall speed for Icon past 45 knots (about 51.8 mph), the MGW isn't quite the gift it looks like. That may be why Icon isn't using the whole 250 lbs.
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Dennis Scearce - Jul 20,2015
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What say we all go in together and buy one. We can keep it at my place.
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Kenneth Leonard - Jul 20,2015
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It's probably much more apples to apples to compare the certified, factory build searey at $140,000 or so. Otherwise, the
performance is very similar. The Icon is certainly sleeker looking. However, you can have a searey built in 3-5 months vs a couple
years and you save $60,000.
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Don Maxwell - Jul 20,2015
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Ken, the SLSA price is a better comparison than the kit price. But the only recent Searey review I could find was my own. The Kitplanes editors found the data on PA's website and then I think they checked it by phone. I imagine that AOPA Pilot editors did something similar.
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Chuck Cavanaugh - Jul 20,2015
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Am I right that the A5's ZFW = 1,080? And how do they get a useful load "range"? Isn't useful load a single number?
IMO, the important numbers for what we all agree is a PWC with wings are Take-off and landing distances. Considering that, I would disagree with your statement that the ICON's performance numbers are like the SeaRey's.
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Don Maxwell - Jul 20,2015
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You're right about the distances, Chuck. I was thinking about cruise speed and should have said so.
What interested me most is that the A5 looks much more streamlined than Searey, but its cruising speed is given as "85 KTAS at 8,000 feet"--which is probably about the same as a Searey, once you convert to IAS and mph, and account for the altitude.
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Bob Samson - Jul 20,2015
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Living in Texas, The Searey's sliding canopy is far superior to the greenhouse the Icon pilot's have to deal with. Or maybe I'm just biased  It did go over 100 this afternoon. Not many aircraft venture out in the mid-afternoon.
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Paulo Constantino - Sep 18,2015
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A friend called me to let me know he saw a Searey step taxing under the George Washington Bridge on the Hudson River here in New York. It really
made his day. I was going to post to ask if it was one of our members. But I got the answer in the morning news. Icon was doing a photo shoot on the
a5. Enjoy the article and then we can debate some more, starting with, I can't believe this airplane comes in at 1050 lbs empty. When most of the new
LSX'S are over 1000 :-)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/the-icon-a5-is-the-closest-thing-to-a-flying-car-you-can-buy-today
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Matt Willenkin - Sep 22,2015
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Anybody wondering how the FAA was able to grant a weight increase to the A5 in 15 months, and allows drones to fly willy-nilly
wherever they want, even when they are a known danger to aircraft and people on the ground, but have been dragging their feet on
3rd class medical reform for 10 years? Could the $60 million in funding that Icon received, or the unlimited funds of Amazon have
anything to do with it?
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