Elanso

Flying has always been mankind’s dream, and great minds like Leonardo Da Vinci spent time conceiving various flying machines. This dream became our reality with Wright brothers in 1903, but degenerated to a nightmare in our modern world with flight delays and rigorous (but necessary) security inconveniences. However, for those who are lucky to get the chance to actually fly a plane themselves, the thrill of flying is still as fresh as ever. If you would love get in the pilot’s seat, but don’t want to go through all the stress of passing numerous qualification barriers for piloting a regular plane, then you should consider the Light Sports Aircraft (LSA) Category which was created by the FAA and EAA in 2004. The ICON A5 is definitely one of the more practical designs of LSAs, with a foldable wing for easy storage, and a plane-attached parachute for safe emergency landing.

These features are very practical because the target market is the recreational fliers who might not want to rent a full hangar, and might not be too good at flying and landing. Although some extreme sports crazies might call the parachute a ‘wuss feature’, they should consider that this parachute is similar to the seat ejection system on fighter planes, ensuring that the pilot lives to fly another day. It would definitely ease the fears of someone who is afraid to fly if they knew that they had this added safety net on the plane. That said, this plane is safe and neat-looking, and if you are willing to produce the nearly $150000 it takes to own one these badboys, then I wish you a safe and enjoyable flight.

PopularMechanics via Gizmodo