Just as Sun ‘n Fun was opening in April, Icon Aircraft—a company that aims to reset the entire general aviation industry with the flashy light sport A5 amphibian—stunned its position holders with a detailed purchase agreement that would all but absolve the company of any liability exposure of any kind.
The extent of Icon’s contract—it runs to 40 pages—even specified sharp restrictions on the secondary sale of the airplane by the original purchaser. Icon’s agreement was obviously an attempt to protect the company in what many consider to still be a hostile tort environment, despite the enactment of the General Aviation Revitalization Act in 1994 that was supposed to give aircraft manufacturers relief from spurious lawsuits and to reduce their products liability insurance costs. Whether the Icon purchase agreement would do that is an open question, but one thing is clear to us: Icon’s contract drew plenty of comments and opened a discussion in the industry about the state of liability exposure for manufacturers. Before Sun ‘n Fun had closed, Icon acknowledged that it had heard customers “loud and clear” and would consider changes or at least explain the buyer’s agreement.