Have you ever seen or flown a small sport plane which can both take off and land on water or ground, has foldable wings so that you can carry it on your trailer-truck and park it in your garage?
Now this may not remain a dream, as a prototype of the American light-sport aircraft (LSA), which is being tested for the past three years, is likely to enter the production line in the second quarter of 2012.
The two-seater ICON A5 is being developed by California-based Icon Aircraft. Its wings can be folded easily from the cockpit in under five minutes while on water or land.
The company last week announced that it closed a $25 million round of equity infusion in June to fund the project through the completion of its ongoing engineering development programme, manufacturing setup and the beginning of production of the amphibious sport plane.
The financing was led by investors Satyen Patel and Bart Becht, who have expertise in building consumer product companies. Mr. Patel has been associated with a top IT-BPO firm and held senior positions with global brands like Pepsi-Cola International and Nike.
Icon is looking at India to set up a supply chain base for spares and other essential components, besides trying to focus on the growing market of high net-worth individuals who could be interested in buying this aircraft, Mr. Patel told PTI.
Other investors include Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, the former Chairman and CEO of Boeing, Phil Condit, and several top Silicon Valley venture capitalists.
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