Complex requirements.
Engineered together.
When the part your platform needs does not exist in any catalogue, our engineers sit down with yours — and design, qualify and manufacture it in Retford, then keep making it for as long as your platform is in service.
Thirty minutes with the engineer who would make the part, within two working days — and a written answer on feasibility, compound and qualification, whether you buy or not.
The part that almost fits.
Most polymer components are chosen from a catalogue. On a certified platform, "almost fits" is a risk: a failed fire test, a leak path at altitude, a late delivery that stops a build line, a supplier that exits with twenty years of service life still to run. Small on the bill of materials. Enormous on the risk register.
Source it on unit price, through a sales office that has never seen the drawing — and treat three qualification attempts as normal.
Engineer it for the application, qualify it first time on our own rigs, and make it face-to-face for the life of the platform.
First time. On time. For the life of the platform.
Fire-seal qualification tests passed first time, where the sector budgets up to three per seal.
Weeks to mould tooling — five weeks off the front of the programme.
One qualified part, repeated for the life of the platform. Obsolescence planned, not discovered.
Every qualification attempt avoided is weeks back on the programme — and one less thing in the review.
face2face engineering.
Design, compounds, rigs, tooling and manufacture on one site in Retford. Customers walk the floor.
Bring us the gap.
Send the specification, the envelope and the environment. An engineer responds within two working days with a first view on feasibility and materials.
Design and qualify it together.
Design and FEA, compounds developed here, 3D-printed tooling in days, fire and environmental testing on rigs built for your conditions, AS9102 first article.
On time, for the life of the platform.
Repeat production with full traceability, obsolescence planned rather than discovered, and an engineer who still picks up the phone in year twenty.
In our customers' words.
Reviews attributed by role and sector, published unedited.
★★★★★
"Customer quotation — on choosing Icon over the incumbent, and the first-time pass that followed."
★★★★★
"Customer quotation — on moving a running part to Icon, and on-time delivery since."
★★★★★
"Customer quotation — on reaching the engineer who makes the part, and what the fleet gained."
Case studies: 11 of 11, over eight years and 26 tests → Tooling: six weeks to one →
Yes, we make hoses, seals and mouldings.
Each is the output of an engineering programme: designed for one place on one platform, qualified to its standard, made for as long as that platform flies, drives or runs.
Hoses & Ducting
Refuelling, G-suit and oxygen hoses; ducting with seals integrated to remove leak paths.
Seals & Mouldings
Fire seals to AC 20-135, aerodynamic and airframe seals, FlexiSeal™, custom rubber mouldings.
Tank Wheels & Running Gear
Road wheels, rollers, track pads and bushes, engineered against heat, abrasion and chip-and-chunk.
EMI, RF & Shielding
Absorbers that dissipate electromagnetic energy at source, supplied from the UK.
Every sector page opens with that sector's problem, the parts that answer it, the standards that apply, and one story from a customer like you.
We are rarely the cheapest quote. Here is what you are paying for.
Bespoke parts have no list price. The cost drivers do, so we publish them.
| What drives the price | What moves it |
|---|---|
| Tooling | Geometry, cavities, and whether a 3D-printed tool is enough for qualification or a production mould is needed. |
| Design and qualification | The test programme your platform requires — fire, thermal, pressure, environmental — plus FEA and compound development. |
| Unit price | Compound, geometry, quantity per build and inspection level. Low minimum quantities: we make it for as long as the platform runs, not by the pallet. |
| Lead times | A prototype in about a week. First-article and repeat lead times published per product. |
What you do not pay for: the second and third qualification attempt, the expedite, the year-fifteen redesign.
If a part we designed and qualified fails its qualification test, we re-engineer and re-test at our cost. You will always reach the engineer working on your part. We tell you what is feasible — and what is not — before you commit.
Not ready to enquire? Start with the Brief.
The Bespoke Component Brief
The one-page checklist our engineers would ask you to complete anyway: platform, envelope, temperatures, media, pressures, fire requirement, standards, quantities, service life. Ten minutes. Email address only.
Talk to an Engineer
Thirty minutes with the engineer who would make the part, within two working days. You leave with a written answer — feasibility, compound, qualification route, indicative cost — useful whether or not you ever buy from us.
Straight answers.
No. Every part is designed and qualified for a specific application on a specific platform, then made as repeat production for as long as that platform is in service. If you need a commodity part, we are the wrong supplier — and we will tell you so.
AS9100 Rev D and ISO 9001, plus the standards your platform requires — DEF STAN 00-970, DEF STAN 05-123 and MIL-H-4495D for hose assemblies, AC 20-135 with ISO/TR 2685 testing for fire seals.
There is no list price; there are cost drivers, and we publish them. A prototype in about a week; qualification is scoped at the first meeting.
An Icon engineer — not a sales office — comes back within two working days with a first view on feasibility, materials and next steps. If a drawing already exists, request a quote and attach it.
Bring us the gap.
Tell us the platform, the envelope and the environment — or just describe the problem. An Icon engineer will come back to you within two working days.
Tell us what you are bringing — a gap, a drawing and a date, or a platform in service — and we route it to the right engineer. No sales office. NDA on request.
Icon Aerospace Technology Ltd
Victoria Works, Retford, Nottinghamshire, England
+44 1777 714 300 · Icon.sales@iconaerotech.com
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