Folding plane a real transformer

When Kirk Hawkins was a child in his mother's arms during an airplane trip, he turned from staring out the window.

"One day, mama," he told her, "I'm going to land on the clouds."

Today, the Goose Creek native has the clouds in his hands. ICON Aircraft just unveiled a two-seater, amphibious propeller plane with wings that fold up, so it can be carried on a trailer. It can be stored in the garage, land in a field or near an island for use as an afternoon pastime.

The idea is to make flying a handy, relatively affordable thrill, like powerboats. It's novel enough that the ICON has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal.

Hawkins, 40, is the Los Angeles company's founder, the man with a dream to put the adventurer in the pilot's

seat. Hawkins is a 1985 Berkeley High School graduate who has jumped back and forth between the seats of powerboats, motor bikes, hang gliders and experimental aircraft, and was always a little puzzled why airplanes weren't built for motorsports, too.

"No, I never grew up in that respect," Hawkins said.

"It's very innovative. It's very impressive," said Earl Lawrence of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008, the Wisconsin air show where a demonstration model of the plane, the ICON A5 will be showcased on the ground in its July public debut.

The plane is a beauty, with a bubble cockpit that looks like a Smart car with wings that runs on gasoline.

It's a step up from ultralight flying, a for-fun personal aircraft that has safety features and requires a Federal Aviation Administration pilot's license, so it can be bought with a bank loan and insured.

"Unlike a Jet Ski, where you throw the keys at anybody," Hawkins said, the ICON A5 is serious flying.

"This is something he's wanted to do for a long time," said Eric Harris, a mechanical engineer who as a neighbor helped Hawkins in high school develop a wind tunnel project that won international science fair awards. "It's a really cool-looking plane."

The cost is still a little too cool for a lot of wallets. The base price for an ICON A5 is $139,000. The plane will be marketed to upscale adventure trekkers, "a touch of style and luxury," Lawrence said.

And the plane has yet to fly. The company won't begin the prototype flights necessary to win FAA certification until this summer.

But orders are already coming in for the ICON A5. The company hopes to deliver the first planes to buyers in 2010.

Hawkins got his pilot's license at 16 years old. He flew F-16 fighters in Iraq with the U.S. Air Force.

Hawkins has an engineering degree from Clemson University and master's degrees from Stanford University in engineering and business.

Hawkins' mother, who still lives in Berkeley County, keeps a shelf of his trophies for dirt-bike riding, waterskiing and skydiving. "He gets excited to invent things. From paper (planes) to balsa wood to wind tunnels, flying has been his dream all his life," said Joyce Hawkins Griffin. "This is a new toy. So it's going to be fantastic."

For more information about ICON Aircraft, go to www.iconaircraft.com.

Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.