As AOPA is pointing out, Icon’s 41-page purchase agreement for its long-awaited A5 is, well, “unusual.” 
Perhaps what is most troubling is its language that seeks to allow Icon to dodge liability for any accident, regardless of its cause.
Founder and CEO Kirk Hawkins told AOPA that Icon believes in “extreme responsibility.”
What we’re trying to do, in a nutshell fundamentally, is put the responsibility [for accidents] where it belongs. . . If it’s our fault, we’ll own it. If it’s your fault, you own it.”
Seems fair enough, except that’s not what the agreement says. It says that if the accident is Icon’s fault because, for example, Icon screwed up the design or manufacture of the buyer’s aircraft, the buyer and his family owns it, not Icon:
Owner and Managing Pilot understand that participating in ground, water and air operations and related activities could result in injuries from a variety of factors, including but not limited to . . . defects in the aircraft or components. . . Owner and Managing Pilot knowingly assume these risks on behalf of themselves and their Successors in Interest.
If Icon would like buyers or pilots to “knowingly” assume the risks of defects in its aircraft, maybe it should come out and tell us what those defects are.
This is not about “extreme responsibility” It’s about extreme irresponsibility. Icon is trying to dodge liability for any defects resulting from its own actions and shift it onto others.
Who would buy an aircraft from a manufacturer who wants it in writing that if we made a mistake that injures someone, its your fault?