New Zealand-based Vickers Aircraft Company says it intends to make its first delivery of the WAVE two-place amphibious aircraft to a U.S. customer in April of 2025. Founder Paul Vickers said the company is now raising capital to fund the push to begin deliveries on its backlog. Most current investors are Americans, he said, and the company has already accomplished a lot with the relatively small amount raised so far. The manufacturing plant has been operating for four years, and all the kinks have been worked out as the company scales up for full production.
“Having front-loaded the manufacturing process, already making the mistakes that come with new product development, and adjusted our processes and procedures, we have already learned many of the lessons that cause aircraft delivery delays and, in most cases, failure to ever bring a competitive product to market,” Vickers said. The plane has finished its flight testing and shook out with a 120-knot cruise and useful load of 750 pounds with a Rotax 916 iS pushing it along.
Vickers said the pending adoption of the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certificate (MOSAIC) rule is ideal timing for the plane’s U.S. introduction. MOSAIC will expand the scope and design of aircraft that can be flown by light sport pilots. He said the company is planning to manufacture the WAVE in the U.S.
An earlier version of this story described the WAVE as a four-place. It’s a two-place.
finally, what the Icon should have been. Two people plus some stuff can be carried. the big question I have is how it will handle rough water. rogue waves happen and it needs to survive them.
Couldn’t copy the A5 more yet it looks better. Now sell it for under a 1/4 mil and it might work.
Their website has a comparison to an ‘other’ aircraft, which is certainly the Icon. It lists the price as ‘less than’ compared to the Icon at $389k
Isn’t this the cart in front of the horse? The company wants to go into production but doesn’t already have the funding lined up? Doesn’t sound like a very sound way to run a business.
Okay, but only if they promise to keep those snazzy, extra-long pitot tubes on it.
Flying boats are kind of weird… This looks to be a winning combination of airframe design and powerplant. Yes, it does put the cart ahead of the horse but with a few hours of transition training it will prove itself to be a predictably handling machine. It reminds me of the Trident Trigull which flew some decades ago but never did catch on. The Trident used a geared Continental (I Think) engine called the “Tiara” which did not meet with much acceptance. I did see the Trigull fly and at light weight it was a spectacular performer. This is like a personal sized Trigull and looks to be a real fun machine to fly. Choppy water is a concern but I think a 15 inch chop should be no problem as takeoffs and landings will be 10 to 12 knots slower with the breeze happening. I’d like a few hours of dual in one and a lottery win to fulfill my hankering for one!
The opening comment in their video was refreshing to me; not a buck spent on frivolous stuff says he.
Use of the new 916T is also good. Those are darn good engines save for their price. Landing this thing would be like landing your keister right on the runway, though 🙂 . The BD-5 was that way.
Maybe this guy doesn’t have it bass akwards? He’s developed a design — apparently — mostly on his own and is now ready to take his proven design into production and needs some help doing it. Different than looking for OPM right up front to develop a design — some of them preposterous — in the hopes that there’s a market. Yes, at the right price, this thing might work but IF it’s too expensive … fuhgetaboutit.
I am a New Zealander, own a Lake amphibian which I bought in New Zealand and flew around New Zealand for several months before flying it to Tonga where I operated into a volcanic lake for a number of years. It is now in Oregon and has seen good service in Alaska too. New Zealand has many lakes of which 75% are not swimmable as they are polluted and seaplanes are prohibited on most lakes due to regulations from DOC (Department of Conservation). Odd that this aircraft is being proposed from NZ which is not exactly seaplane friendly. The least hassle water flyoing country is the USA; congratulations !