[wpvideo YJElSDYc]<\/p>\n
Today I trotted along to Santa Monica Airport<\/a> close to where we are staying, to have a look at the aeroplanes and check out an airport which must in many ways be similar to Essendon Airport near Melbourne – a mixture of biz-jets, warbirds, GA and light sport aircraft. It’s also right in the heart of a built-up area, with big ‘fly quietly’ signs everywhere – something that’s a bit difficult for a Citation jet!<\/p>\n On the day I went, take off was towards the west, straight out over the beach. I watched quite a few aircraft coming and going, including a couple of Sport Cruisers (still branded Piper Sports) doing training circuits, and the inevitable Cessna 172s and a nice V-tail Bonanza.<\/p>\n After an hour or so on the sky deck viewing area I was ready to leave when a small aircraft caught my attention, taxiing out for take-off: an Icon A5<\/a>. As most aviators will know, this is about the most hyped aircraft to appear in recent years and in spite of a US$200,000+ price tag, the manufacturer claims to have several hundred confirmed orders and a 3-year waiting list.<\/p>\n Icon went through a very long development period, including obtaining a special FAA exemption to allow them to exceed the amphibious LSA 650 kgs weight limit by about 40 kgs ‘for safety reasons’. In purely aesthetic terms, the aircraft looks beautiful – at least with the wheels up – and the cabin and instrument panel resemble an expensive sports car. Nevertheless, its weight carrying capacity is not great and the cruise is surprisingly slow for such a sleek looking aircraft – flat out, 95 knots and typically 80-85 knot cruise. But hey, look at the style! Who wants to rush when you have such an aviation icon?<\/p>\n The video above shows the Icon A5 departing Santa Monica. The main thing I noticed was the noise, which is typical of pusher configurations – quite loud, due to the relatively turbulent air coming round the fuselage into the prop.<\/p>\n If I was a millionaire, I might buy one….might.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [wpvideo YJElSDYc] Today I trotted along to Santa Monica Airport close to where we are staying, to have a look at the aeroplanes and check out an airport which must in many ways be similar to Essendon Airport near Melbourne … Continue reading