This is not your father's Icon.
First of all, THIS IS NOT BASED ON A REAL PLANE! This was an experiment to see if we could modify a plane to give it more speed, but keep the low speed handling as close as possible to the original. So, if you're only interested in realistic aircraft, this might not be for you. But if you love the looks of the Icon but are frustrated with its inability to get you in and out of remote mountain lakes, then this will make you smile.
This started as a conversation between PapaMeesh and myself about not having an amphibious plane that has a fast cruise speed. After some further discussion, we decided to use the A5 as the platform. Special thanks to the Hype Performance Group for letting us use their existing mod https://flightsim.to/file/6806/icon-a5-high-performance-mod as the base for our little project. Their mod added the G3X and autopilot and a bigger engine to the stock A5. We just further upgraded the engine and flight model.
PapaMeesh went to town performing an engine swap to upgrade to a 220 HP turbo charged engine. The flight model was tweaked to tame the new beast and make then handling a little sportier. Spoilers were added, but not physically modeled (We don't know how to do that yet) to help slow down for landing in small mountain lakes. The airframe was then reinforced to handle the additional performance because why not? The larger engine was thirsty too, so we wedged some additional fuel tanks in to double the available fuel load to 40 gallons. And the A5 Luxury Sport was born!
Now if you're thinking this is one of those over-powered cartoonish mods, you might be pleasantly surprised. As previously mentioned, the changes have been thoughtfully made to support what would happen if you put 220 HP in an Icon and wanted to make it fly well at slow speeds too. Hey, if Mike Patey can do this in real life, we can do it in the sim.
Naturally, all this performance needed a new look, so I spent several hours creating a livery pack to properly represent the new plane. There are 3 different designs with several colors to choose from. The interior was redone and is now either black or tan with Mahogany panels. Please get the new livery pack. https://flightsim.to/file/31792/icon-a5ls-livery-pack
You will also need the Working Title G3X mod for the autopilot and G3x to work properly. https://www.workingtitle.aero/packages/g3x/2021/10/19/g3x-release-v0.1.0.html
FYI, the buttons on the right side of the display, no longer function with the G3X mod installed. The G3X is a touchscreen.
This is a work in progress so we welcome any constructive feedback. We have a couple smaller things in mind already. Just need to figure out how to get them included.
We hope you enjoy this mod as much as we do!
===== Install / Removal =================================
Just add these 2 folders to the Community folder just as you would with any other mod. It makes no changes to the original Icon, so returning the original plane is as simple as removing this mod from the community folder...but why would you EVER do that?
===== Flying / Landing =================================
Recommend you map the spoiler. You will use it often to slow down for lake landings. Preferably to an analog control so you can control how much spoiler you apply. Recommend you map the water rudder as well. For smaller lakes, it will let you turn sharper to bleed off speed in the water.
The aircraft will require a lot of down trim to fly level at high speeds. Once you get it set for ~200 knots, it behaves nicely.
Takeoffs do not need full throttle. If you haven't set your trim prior to takeoff, it will pitch up abruptly. Recommend setting the throttle to 50%-75% for the first few takeoffs until you get used to the plane.
At 10,000ft, set your throttle to burn 15gph and you will cruise ~220ktas and have a range of ~600nm. To extend the range, drop the throttle to 10gph for cruise speed of ~195ktas and a range of ~780nm.
Landing is a breeze. Use the spoiler to slow down and drop your flaps. If you've been puddle jumping, don't forget your landing gear when landing on the runway. (Don't ask why I'm reminding you...) Keep the spoilers deployed until touchdown if you are performing a short field (or small lake) landing. Keep the nose up and it will settle in and touchdown ~35-40 knots.
coldnebo
I would give it 5 stars for the fun, but unfortunately the avionics mods break the C208 G1000 PFD: the CDI button didn't switch sources between VOR and GPS after installing this mod. Removing the mod fixed the problem. I didn't check other G1000 planes.
chunkyflyer author
5 months ago
dpskg1993
ElCee
chunkyflyer author
10 months ago
SeriousRotate
Suddenly I don't have any avionics. Did I miss a switch, or did the 12 update kill the avionics. Steam gauges OK, everything else fine. Please advise - otherwise, I'm loving this animal!
chunkyflyer author
I haven't had any issues with avionics. Just flew in it last night. Do you by chance have a button or switch bound to avionics power? I know I have had issues when I start a flight with several different planes that the screen stays black. Usually a flight restart or sim restart corrects it.
1 years ago
EagleKeeper
DAYUM! This is my "Go To" aircraft! Water, STOL, mountain - and great for sightseeing. Things getting a little a little tight? Just give'er more throttle and you're climbing out of there like a rocket!
But - is there a user's manual? Specifically, the autopilot. I see no dials or switches - how do you work the AP? If I've overlooked some directions - apologies.
Thanks for this fun little missile - what a HOOT!
chunkyflyer author
Glad you're loving our mod! As far as the AP goes, if you have the Working Title G3X mod installed, there are 3 black boxes at the top of the left screen. Click on the middle one and it will open the AP controls on the right side.
1 years ago
Relic
Fun to fly, but doesn't appear to be able to be steered on the ground unless i'm doing something wrong.
chunkyflyer author
Sorry for the late reply. No one else has had any issues turning on the ground. In fact, we've improved the turning by removing the speed limitation so be careful at higher speeds. Let me know if you're still having issues and I'll see if I can help you figure it out.
2 years ago
azu205
Is this still up to date? The aircraft itself seems to be working fine but it's showing nothing on the G3X, even with the latest version from Working Title + the one included in this download
chunkyflyer author
As far as I know it's still working. I'll take a look though
2 years ago
ronfid29
Cannot thank you enough ,I use same throttle quadrant followed your advice all fixed ,love the plane ,thanks again.
ronfid29
I am a 93 year old newcomer to MSFS just trying to keep the brain active,I installed Icon A5LS all good G3X fine, come to fly no control over throttle it is continually moving in and out ,top speed between 50/60,please can anyone advise.
chunkyflyer author
2 things come to mind...
2 years ago
doug1940
LOVE IT! Who cares if its not real???
chunkyflyer author
Thanks! That's how we felt when we made it. We know it's not for everyone, but they are just missing out.
2 years ago
itzNorcallyJ
Taking her out for a test flight on the Nicaraguan coast today. I'm trying to limit her to 5,000rpm lol. Everything in the cockpit works great for me! The only issue I have is coming to a short stop on water landings being that she is so speedy now 😊
chunkyflyer author
She still lands at around 40 knots. The problem with water landing is there’s no friction to slow down. To completely stop in water, you’ll need to kill the engine.
2 years ago
piloteddl
I miss the (virtual) knob to change the heading
chunkyflyer author
Unfortunately, the panel in the icon doesn’t have any dials. I can’t change that. I have the honeycomb bravo and use the knob on it. You can map buttons for heading up and heading down. That would help some.
2 years ago
rrroberttt
The fix of the autopilot moving only in 5 degree instead of 1 degree implement works. However, if I want to change course by 90 degrees, I have to click the cursor 90 times. Perhaps, you can change that so that by holding the cursor down, it will advance much faster.
Thank you.
chunkyflyer author
That may take a minute. Still learning a lot of the coding. Good suggestion though.
2 years ago
fosheem
I assume it is something I did or my configuration, but I can't get this mod to work, but I would very much like it to. The autopilot is working fine, so I know something is happening, but my Icon's performance is strictly default, with a top speed of 105 knots.
I dropped the two folders into my Icons folder in Addons Linker (performance mod &
GPS mod). I made a point to stick with the default Icon liveries for testing, and I enabled both of the new folders, but only the AP seems to work. I did this with the previous version and had the same results. Any hints?
Note that I've confirmed that none of the old Icon performance mods are loaded.
Many thanks for giving this great little plane a boost!
SomeGuyInCO
So let's double-check that there isn't an extra layer of folders in your installation...
Under the Community folder you should have: "ICONA5_LS_CMmod"
Under "ICONA5_LS_CMmod" you should have 2 folders and 2 files.
Folders: "Effects" and "Simobjects"
Files: "layout.json" and "manifest.json"
Does your folder structure look like this or is there an extra layer in there?
One other thing that would be quick to check (because you're using the add-on linker), would be to temporarily remove every other mod except those 2 and try again. Sorry I can't give a more definitive solution, but I didn't see this issue at any point during testing. So you've stumped me (so far)
2 years ago
chunkyflyer
There are several changes on the update.
1. Worked on the flight model to Increase Roll Rate.
2. Worked on the flight model to Decrease Elevator effectiveness. This will help with overstressing the plane.
3. We further reinforced the aircraft to allow up to +15/-9 Gs.
4. Worked on the G3X gauges to now include a G Force gauge, a Flap/Spoiler position gauge, and a Range readout. (Thanks Cammy9r for the code for the Flap/Spoiler gauge)
5. Redid the GPH gauge and added the 10 gph and 15 gph marks for economy and fast cruise settings.
6. Worked GPS to increment by 1 degree with the HDG touch screen buttons.
**Please make sure you delete and replace the "workingtitle-gx-0.1.0-hpg" folder for the HDG touch screen buttons to work properly.**
Finally, I've included a demo flight plan that takes a tour of the Alps and lands at 40+ lakes. Enjoy it!
We will continue to work on the aircraft as we get further feedback.