Icon Aircraft has slashed its planned production rates of the Icon A5 amphibious LSA from 175 aircraft to 20 in the first year.
The move came after Icon found their production facilities were not capable of producing the promised number airframes.
"The unfortunate fact of the matter is that ICON had an overly aggressive production schedule for 2016,” said ICON CEO Kirk Hawkins.
“We are working hard to find the balance between high-rate production and our exacting standards for quality, performance, and affordability. While the A5 is extremely well-engineered and an amazing aircraft to fly, frankly we need to improve its manufacturability. We’ll have to slow down and walk before we run.”
“We opened the production line at our new factory in January with ambitious plans to produce 175 aircraft this year,” said ICON VP of Manufacturing Thomas Wieners. “After completing seven aircraft, with 11 more in production and having received a total of 30 composite airframe sets, we’ve learned that our production process and parts of our supply chain are not yet ready for high-rate production.”
Customers can expect delivery delays of up to one year because of the decision.