Overview

• Authorities said Hawkins jumped from a helicopter with three other wingsuit flyers, flew along the Eiger’s east ridge, and collided with trees just west of Schüssellouwinegraben.
• Hawkins co-founded Icon Aircraft in 2006 and served as CEO until he was forced out in November 2018.
• According to court records cited by AOPA, he remained a named party in Icon’s still-open Delaware Chapter 11 case and was excluded from settlement agreements approved in 2024.
• Investigations into past ICON A5 crashes, including the 2017 accident that killed former MLB pitcher Roy Halladay, have attributed causes to pilot error rather than mechanical or design faults.
• Cofounder Steen Strand confirmed Hawkins’s death in a public tribute and recalled his background as a U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot with degrees from Clemson and Stanford.