Birds of a Composite Feather...

Top General Aviation manufacturer Cirrus Aircraft, which makes the Cirrus line of four-seat, all-composite aircraft, just announced it's partnering with another composite company, one that's had its share of delays in getting to market: Icon Aircraft.

The Icon A5, a sleek, highly-promoted amphibian SLSA, has gathered several hundred orders although the company, formed in 2005, is still in development testing. Its latest production estimate is another year off.

Cirrus said it expects to add up to 60 jobs at its Grand Forks, N.D., plant as it manufactures a large portion of the A5.

ICON says it sought the partnership with Cirrus "because of its reputation for quality composite airframes in its SR-20 and SR-22 planes."

For its part, Cirrus, which originally planned to rebadge and market a sleek, European-built SLSA of its own back in the beginning of the Light Sport era (2004), says the partnership will give it a horse in the new category.

The A5's components will be made alongside Cirrus components in Grand Forks. Final assembly of the A5 will take place at ICON's plant in Tehachapi, Calif., which is ironically a capital for soaring flight, in the mountains an hour north of Los Angeles.

Cirrus has struggled in recent years with the downturn in the economy - that's reportedly why it dropped its own SLSA project a few years ago- but the recent infusion of $100 million in capital from the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. to advance the Cirrus Vision SF-50V-tailed light jet project has brightened the company'soutlook.

James LawrenceWriter

"If it flies, it's cool" pretty much nails the ethos of James Lawrence. Milestones along the taxiway include boyhood obsessions with airplane models and science fiction; first flight lesson at 15 (Piper Cub); cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, (class of '67); sailplane lessons in the California desert when he could afford it; built and flew his first hang glider (1973); magazine and book author and actor (TJ on tv's SWAT); former Editor (Ultralight Aircraft, Outdoor Photographer, Plane & Pilot); freelance writer/photographer since 1992; current LSA Editor-at-Large. Rents a local Piper Cub in Great Barrington; still loves the sky, from ground and air.