When an icosahedron is radially projected on to a sphere so that two opposite vertices are at the north and south poles, an even subdivision of its triangular faces will result in a flat polygonal row of edges at the equator. I have just noticed that an odd subdivision v >= 5 results in two nearly flat rows on either side of the equator. Not sure whether this is common knowledge.
With flatness defined as zmax-zmin as a percentage of the radius of the sphere:-
v Flatness
5 0.691225%
7 0.510883%
9 0.358848%
11 0.295662%
13 0.238142%
15 0.206908%
v 0.02705529238%/v approximately
This could be helpful in creating a dome slightly higher than a hemisphere without needing special geometry at the base such as Krueschke subdivision.
Chris Jones