As Business Insider"s transportation reporter, flying on planes is an integral part of my job description.
Unfortunately for me, acrophobia is also a major part of life.
Simply put, I don"t like heights.
Although I thoroughly enjoy flying on big airliners, small planes still bug me. I don"t like the instability, the single engine — and I don"t like the all-too frequent instances of general aviation aircraft falling out of the sky.
Recently, ICON Aircraft introduced their new A5 light sport personal seaplane. It"s a small two-seat amphibious plane that can take off and land from both the land and water. Based on the company"s videos and photos, it looked pretty awesome.
The company made a couple of its planes and pilots available for demo flights over the Hudson River. The invitation was too good to pass up. But I was still hesitant. So I talked a videographer colleague of mine into going with me and take the test flight in my place.
Here"s how it went.
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On the day of our scheduled test flight, my colleague and I made our way to a marina on the northern tip of Manhattan. We were introduced to a series of company executives, including CEO Kirk Hawkins, who founded ICON decade or so ago, soon after graduating from Stanford"s business school.
Hawkins, who also happens to be an engineer and former Air Force F16 pilot, created the company to fit into the "light sport" market segment.
ICON believes there is a $10-billion global market for products like the A5.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: businessinsider.com
A flight on this personal seaplane helped me overcome a major fear in my life
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