Meet the Icon A5, the Sports Plane That Costs Less Than an SUV

Exotic supercars? Luxury powerboats? Whatever. This new two-seat aircraft is the most fun you can have on land, sea, or in the air.

In the annals of cinematic foreplay, there are few greater scenes than Pierce Brosnan's tandem glider flight with Rene Russo in 1999's The Thomas Crown Affair. Russo shrieks, giggles, and gasps—and that's before Brosnan hands her his joystick. (In the 1968 original, Steve McQueen flies solo while Faye Dunaway gazes up from the ground—but where's the fun in that?)

Today, you don't need to be a bored billionaire to squire a lady around the skies. Meet the Icon A5, a new and lustworthy aircraft that's both easy to fly and easy to own. At $189,000, it costs less than some SUVs, and the 20 hours of training time is about half that required for more conventional aircraft. Like a Porsche 911, this two-person propeller plane is meant more for recreation than for transportation—and it looks the part, with aggressive lines and a clean, intuitive cockpit (vice president of design Klaus Tritschler is a BMW alum).

It can take off from water or any stretch of suitably flat land, travels more than 420 nautical miles on a single tank of unleaded gasoline, can be stored in a large garage (the wings fold up and back), and has advanced safety features like an anti-spin airframe to keep you aloft and—if all else fails—even its own full-plane parachute. It's only FAA–approved for clear weather during daylight hours—but we're confident you'll have better things to do after dark.