Epic Nudges Closer To E1000 Certification

Epic Aircraft continues to edge toward FAA certification of its $3.25 million E1000 carbon-fiber turboprop single. The company recently announced completion of aircraft structural testing and anticipates receiving Federal Aviation Administration Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) this month. It also said that it had flown 625 hours on its two flight-test aircraft and would begin FAA conformal flight testing next month.

The company now anticipates receiving FAA certification in the fourth quarter, with customer deliveries to follow early next year. Mike Schrader, Epic director of sales and marketing, said the company is on track to receive its production certificate in the first half of 2019 and that the first three to four customer aircraft are already taking shape at the company’s 300,000-square-foot Bend, Oregon factory. He said Epic would begin the process of converting some 85 aircraft deposits to firm orders later this summer.

Related Article

Epic E1000

This single-engine turboprop seems likely to slay its nearest competitor by nearly every measure.

According to Schrader, the company is debt-free, already has 250 employees, and is “fully funded” through certification and its initial production years. He said initial plans call for a production ramp-up of eight to 12 aircraft next year, 24 in 2020, 36 in 2021, and 50 in 2022 and thereafter. The company estimates the ultimate market for the E1000 at 80 to 90 units per year, he said. Epic is owned by Russian-controlled Engineering LLC. 

“We have doubled our composite-fabrication capacity and refined workflows to support planned production volumes of 50 aircraft per year,” said Epic CEO Doug King. “We have added tooling, curing ovens, paint booths, storage freezers, CNC machinery, and composite cutting and laser templating tools, as well as inspection, bonding, and assembly equipment. We are currently running two production work shifts, with plans to eventually support around-the-clock-production capacity.”

Schrader said rigorous testing of the aircraft to date has included pressure testing the fuselage to 18 psi, nearly three times its normal 6.6 psi limit, and ultimate loading the wing to 19,044 pounds and deflecting it to 31 inches. He said preliminary performance data for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-67A-powered E1000 shows a maximum speed of 325 knots, 1,650-nautical-mile range, 1,100 pounds of payload, maximum sustained climb rate of 4,000 fpm, a fuel-consumption rate of 45 gph at cruise altitude, and a 34,000-foot service ceiling. “We’re getting there,” Schrader said. “It’s a long, arduous process.”