TEHACHAPI, Calif. -- The ICON A5 is a sport plane that can take off and land on the water just as easily as it can a runway, and the FAA-approved aircraft which only requires a sports pilot license to fly is proving to be a big hit for first time flyers.

Matthew Gionta, ICON A5's chief technical officer said, “The most surprising part about our customer base so far is that over 33% of our customers have never flown before. They have been inspired to go flying just by our product so, that’s very satisfying.”

The ICON A5 is still in its testing phase which is done in Tehachapi for ground landing and take-offs and Lake Isabella for water, but the plane has already received a lot of buzz even before making it in the pages of what some call the ultimate wish book.

“They learned about our product and thought it would be a great fit to their catalogue, and so they invited us to be in the catalogue so we created a package for them that would be suitable for their clientele, ” said Gionta.

The package exclusive to the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book includes one ICON A5 sport aircraft with exterior and interior luxury upgrades, a custom trailer and full FAA-certified sport pilot licensing for two and it will cost you $250,000, the most expensive gift in this year’s Christmas book.

Gionta said, “That’s a pretty big honor to be chosen for their catalogue, their Christmas catalogue, and also to be the top gift in that catalogue is also a pretty neat honor. So, we were obviously very happy about it and it certainly puts the product out there in front of more people who can afford a toy of this magnitude.”

And if the $250,000 price tag from Neiman Marcus’ Christmas Book gives you sticker shock, there is the less expensive option that includes just the ICON A5 sports aircraft for $139,000.

So far, 466 have been sold and those customers can expect to get theirs in late 2011.