ICON Aircraft designers work on prototype in Tehachapi
| Friday, Mar 19 2010 04:32 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 19 2010 04:44 PM
The summit
The 10th annual Kern County Economic Summit is 7 a.m. to noon March 24 at the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court in Bakersfield. Tickets are $100 and only about 50 of them were left as of Friday.
The event features six speakers including author, economist and University of California at Irvine business professor Peter Navarro; Stuart Witt, general manager of the Mojave Air & Space Port; and ICON Aircraft chief executive officer Kirk Hawkins. Breakfast is included.
For more information, call (661) 862-5150 or log onto www.kedc.com.
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Kirk Hawkins founded Icon Aircraft, which manufactures light sport aircraft — recreational airplanes that can land on water and are small enough to haul on a trailer behind an SUV. They can be yours for a mere $140,000.
The founder of Icon Aircraft, based in Los Angeles, will be among the speakers at the upcoming Kern County Economic Summit, which is March 24 at the Doubletree Hotel in Bakersfield. Kirk Hawkins runs a company that manufactures light sport aircraft--that is, recreational airplanes that can land on water and are small enough to haul on a trailer behind an SUV. Can be all yours for a mere $140,000. Profile of the company ahead of the summit.
When a 2004 regulatory change by the Federal Aviation Administration for the first time created a "light sport aircraft" category of small recreational airplanes that consumers could learn to fly fairly easily, Kirk Hawkins saw an opportunity.
A year later, the former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot founded Los Angeles-based ICON Aircraft. Ten of the company's 15 employees are based in Tehachapi, where designers and engineers are hard at work on a prototype. Hawkins hopes to begin selling his first model -- the ICON A5 -- as soon as the end of next year.
Hawkins will talk about his start-up company and the potential market for his unique aircraft at Wednesday's 10th annual Kern County Economic Summit in Bakersfield.
The company's airplanes are small enough to tow behind an SUV and are capable of landing on ground or water.
There was never any question about where his development and testing operation would be located, Hawkins said in a telephone interview Thursday.
"The Silicon Valley is ground zero for I.T. and this area is ground zero for aerospace," he said. "There's a robust talent pool there."
Among other things, the Mojave Desert region is home to Edwards Air Force Base and the Mojave Air and Space Port, an eclectic collection of private companies involved with experimental aircraft, including private rocket ships.
The Kern Economic Development Corp. is trying to cultivate that hub.
"It's a mixed bag, because with aerospace obviously we have a lot of competition from New Mexico, but we're working with the Mojave Air and Space Port to do as much as we can in that area," said Robin Fleming, a KEDC business developer who specializes in the energy, natural resources and aerospace industries.
ICON's airplanes, which will start at about $140,000, aren't intended to be an alternative to current methods of travel, Hawkins said.
"These are not jets, and we're not trying to create a substitute for Southwest Airlines," he said.
It's not a means of reaching a destination Hawkins is selling as much as the ride itself. The longtime motorsports enthusiast said his aircraft could "do for recreational flying what personal watercraft did for boating. Think of it the same way you'd think of an ATV or speedboat."
The company hasn't started production yet, and several markets are vying for a planned manufacturing plant that could create as many as 500 jobs. Hawkins said he'll choose a location for the plant by the end of the year.
"We love being in Southern California and Kern County is on the list," he said. "We'd like to stay here, but frankly, California isn't a very business-friendly state with all its regulation and high taxes. Any county we move to would have to offer us some incentives."
