A year later at AirVenture, it was temporarily donated to the youth group Young Eagles, with the first official A5 customer deliveries occurring in 2016.

ICON founder and former CEO Kirk Hawkins said of the aircraft, "it's not about the usual metrics of speed, range, payload, altitude, and complex cockpits.

In January 2009, the company announced completion of the first phase (27 flights) of a three-phase testing program, including water handling.

In May 2013 the FAA requested more details on the procedures used by Icon to test the spin resistance of the aircraft at the higher weight.

[21][22] On August 6, 2012, Icon announced that Cirrus Aircraft would produce composite airframe components for the A5 at its Grand Forks, North Dakota, facility.

Icon stated that two additional aircraft would be constructed to "verify performance and complete FAA approval".

[29][4] The first customer aircraft was flown in May 2015, but deliveries could not commence until the company underwent an FAA audit, which was completed on June 11, 2015.

[32][33] In August 2015, the A5 was flown by several aviation journalists, which resulted in overwhelmingly positive reviews, singling out the aircraft's handling and cockpit ergonomics.

Customer deliveries were announced as being delayed until 2017 at the earliest, due to the need to improve the manufacturing processes to build the aircraft design.

[42] In late October 2017, the company announced a large price increase for position holders for the 2018 model year deliveries.

[43] As of November 7, 2017, the total number of aircraft produced was reported to be 23, including the models delivered to flight training centers.

[49] In January 2025, after learning from a family friend about a windshield fogging incident during takeoff in an ICON A5, a teenager developed an innovative defrosting system.

This breakthrough led to the creation of a company and a collaboration with a Cirrus aircraft owner to design additional aviation solutions.

Furthermore, each aircraft would be equipped with a camera and recorder to monitor pilot behavior, that is owned by the manufacturer but must be maintained by the owner.

[56][57] AVweb's Paul Bertorelli wrote, "We and other media outlets repeatedly contacted Icon for questions and clarifications, only to be either ignored, rebuffed or given summarily vague answers.

[60] It seats two people in an enclosed 46-inch-wide (116.8 cm) cockpit and is powered by a single 100 hp (75 kW) Rotax 912 iS engine driving a three-bladed pusher propeller.

Dornier-style sponsons provide hydrodynamic stability, house the retracted main landing gear, and act as a step for crew and passenger.

[61] The factory installed equipment includes an angle of attack indicator as a safety enhancement for stall awareness, a feature not usually found in general aviation aircraft.

A whole-airframe Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) parachute is optional, except for in U.S.-registered A5s where it is mandatory, due to ICON's exemption to the U.S. light-sport aircraft (LSA) weight limit.

[63][64][65][66] In a September 2017 review following a complete conversion course, AVweb writer Geoff Rapoport said of the aircraft: If you really put the hammer down, the A5 can get up to about 90 knots.