VSkyLabs Next Release

[falcon409]

Check it out here:

https://www.facebook.com/VSKYLABS/po..._comment_reply

[manfredc3]

Interesting plane. Might be fun to fly

[Daveroo]

is the Icon still being built?.i know it was being built in Vacaville ca at the nut tree,but id heard they shut down.havent heard anymore.

[falcon409]

is the Icon still being built? I know it was being built in Vacaville, Ca., at the nut tree, but I'd heard they shut down. Haven't heard anymore.

Google is your friend Dave. I couldn't find anything that said they had shut down, ever. There were periods where production was stopped to correct production problems, but as this link shows, they are very much in business.

https://www.iconaircraft.com/home

[falcon409]

Reading a lot on the Icon, I have to say that if I were a future owner. . .one who had made an initial deposit for an aircraft, I would be thinking about how much I really wanted one, lol. Early production (pre-2016) set the price at around $140,000. Later that was changed to $289,000 and in January of this year the fully loaded version will go for almost $400,000. Deliveries have never met early expectations and there are approximately 140 still backordered.

The company has always tauted the A-5 as an Airplane "Anyone can fly". Clearly not just "anyone". . . .but anyone who has very deep pockets, has a lot of patience and is young enough to still be around when their airplane finally rolls off the assembly line.

[Bjoern]

Sounds like the order process for a Trabant back in more socialist days. Sign your kid up right after birth and deposit the money and 18 years later, when he/she is allowed to drive, the wait will be only two more years.

[falcon409]

Well, I decided to make the leap and buy. I wasn't really surprised by the price given the amount of detail though. Beautiful airplane, very well done and a lot of fun to fly. Do not expect a fast airplane because despite it's racy appearance, in order for it to be controllable while hand flying or with the AP, it must be flown within the prescribed envelope (95kts). Anything above that with AP active and you get a constant rocking motion side to side. I have a hat switch on my CH Throttle that I use for trim and while hand flying I found it nearly impossible to trim it for "hands off" flying. . .very twitchy airplane.

Also, LSA Airplanes are designed for below 10,000 flying, in good weather, no night flying. . .my idea of good weather is sunny, no clouds, light winds (under 5 kts), temps in the upper 70's/low 80's and low humidity. I found that winds aloft of greater than 10kts threw her into a tizzy both with AP on or off.

I had many questions about the airplane from my first few flights but I posted a thread in their Forum to get confirmation on as many as possible so I'll see how soon I get a response.

[falcon409]

I got some answers to my queries. There is a large "smear" that shows on the windscreen/canopy and that's being corrected. This airplane has a pilot and a passenger (viewed from both the interior and exterior) and there is a click spot to remove them, however when clicked it does remove them both from the interior but also the exterior so you end up with a pilotless airplane. . .not crazy about that so I'm stuck with both.

The wings on the Icon have a clever fold function so they store against the fuselage for trailering or storage. In real life that is done manually but in the sim the function is initiated with a click spot in the cockpit and works both on the ground and in the air, lol. I suggested that maybe that should be locked out while in flight but apparently that was done so that users could play with that and see that it is modeled into the flight dynamics. . .hmmmm.

There is a functioning Ballistic recovery chute modeled as well so I think I'll get up to a couple thousand feet and fold the wings to see how that works. lol