I am a beginner in flying, so I did not know this is possible. Not sure if this is realistic. I completely switch everything off mid air, even the fuel pump, and apply max flaps and trim. The Icon glides down perfectly stable. Is this realistic? Kind of cool how the prop is still spinning though because of the air flow.

I don’t have any experience in the icon but it is entirely possible. I know in a Cessna 172 you can get a very close to best power off glide speed with full nose up trim. From what I read the Icon is extremely stable. 

"Creating a full-envelope spin-resistant airplane was extraordinarily difficult and took longer than expected," CEO Kirk Hawkins said today in a statement announcing FAA certification of the wing. "[The design] dramatically raises the bar for light aircraft safety by decreasing the likelihood of inadvertent stall/spin loss of control by the pilot."

"The purpose of the demo is not to encourage this kind of flying, but to demonstrate that the A5 has a remarkable safety feature that helps keep the aircraft flying and controllable even when the pilot has made the mistake of inadvertently stalling the aircraft," says Icon Aircraft CEO and Founder Kirk Hawkins. "Most aircraft when held in a stall, even at full power, will enter into a rapid descent which can degrade into a loss of control or a spin under certain conditions."

 

 

Here is a video. The Icon sits in the air when switched off like nothing. No matter what I do, it always recovers to a stable position. Even the prop is not rotating anymore when I stall it at the end of the video because of close to zero gliding speed.

 

 

Edited August 30, 20205 yr by M-Air Bush Deliveries Ltd

Looks ok to me.

Mushing is probably the way it stalls.... Don't know as I never flew one IRL..

The quotes I added to the thread was to show the Icon was designed as a spin resistant aircraft. 

Therefore, the simulation approximates this by the behavior you described.

Look it up on the web and you’ll see it has very docile flight characteristics by design.

Any airplane can glide with its engine(s) off. After all, it's wings it's flying on, not the engine. And if you retract those huge flaps you can get even better gliding performance.

Edited August 30, 20205 yr by ilya1502

5 hours ago, ilya1502 said:

Any airplane can glide with its engine(s) off. After all, it's wings it's flying on, not the engine. And if you retract those huge flaps you can get even better gliding performance.

Of course. What I am saying is that with the Icon's flaps/trim maxed and engine off, you can force a zero-pitch gliding situation. It will stay perfecly level and lose altitude very slow.

What you are saying is that if you switch off engines the plane will go down with some negative pitch and basically hit the ground like an arrow. This is true as well for some planes. The Icon will not do that with flaps/trim maxed, it will stay level with zero pitch if done right.

52 minutes ago, M-Air Bush Deliveries Ltd said:

Of course. What I am saying is that with the Icon's flaps/trim maxed and engine off, you can force a zero-pitch gliding situation. It will stay perfecly level and lose altitude very slow.

What you are saying is that if you switch off engines the plane will go down with some negative pitch and basically hit the ground like an arrow. This is true as well for some planes. The Icon will not do that with flaps/trim maxed, it will stay level with zero pitch if done right.

Hm... Now when you put it like that it doesn't sound right to me.

I was mistaken on the C172. I actually tried it on a real world flight today.  Power off full nose high trim gives you around 55 kts. Not best glide speed but closer to 1.3 Vs0. I can’t find the reference, but I listened to a seminar from Airventure where a guy was talking about how in an engine out scenario, rolling the pitch trim all the way nose up and just keeping the wings level would give you a safe glide speed without stalling. It was built into the certification process some way. When I pulled power and started rolling trim up, I swore I was headed for a stall, but sure enough, airspeed settled in right around that 55 kts after about the second oscillation. 

I might buy an IconA5 just to try that on landing:

1. Above air field: Switch everything off mid-air. Max nose high trim and max flaps.

2. Fall out of the sky with zero pitch and basically in slow motion because you lose altitude so slowly

3. Short above gound, pull parachute.

4. Land with impact that is so smooth, the coffee in you cup holder does not even spill

5. Taxi away