There’s a flip side to the conundrum we’re discussing.
One of the better ideas Icon had was that they were going to market the thing to non-pilots who wanted a fun machine and didn’t know a stick from a rudder. Even at their early introductory price, it was too expensive but – who knows – maybe it’d have worked? So the pilot side is an issue, too. I guess Icon thought they’d just train non pilots to fly the thing on water in 20 hours and they’d run up in droves and buy them in bulk? Who’s on first ??
Just in the last couple of weeks, I noted on my home aviation radio set to local Unicom that there was a lot of Skycatcher activity at my airport near Oshkosh. I wondered what was going on. At the FBO, I got to talking to one of the pilots, a 60ish guy who told me that he had always wanted to fly, was now retired and was attending an EAA Light Sport accelerated training activity at Oshkosh. The EAA had brought in two CFI’s who were planned to each train two student over the dedicated short period. For $10K including lodging, the aspirants would pop out the other side a certificated LSA pilot. Well, guess what … the EAA couldn’t find four students so each CFI only had one student. $10K isn’t chump change but it isn’t a fortune, either. The guy I talked to was obviously well heeled enough to justify it in his mind. My point is that if EAA couldn’t attract four people for such a dedicated and well planned out training session … it says MUCH! And, of course, twenty somethings wouldn’t be able to afford such training, either. As I remember Icon’s story, that’s the exact target population they were going after … 20 to 30 year old non pilots. So how the heck were they gonna afford the airplane if they can’t afford the training?
BTW: The guy had landed because he was nervous about the winds that had picked up. I “jacked” the guy up a couple of feet and complimented him on achieving his life bucket list item and told him he was developing aeronautical decision making; that he did the right thing. He was ready to run out and buy an LSA. I told him to – instead – keep training, get his private and buy a “real” airplane. He agreed that was a good plan.
And no PFD !! I thought Genesah was a professional chief pilot? That’s what Jamie Beckett says …