Epic Aircraft's E1000 turboprop, a manufactured version of the Epic LT kit airplane. (Epic Aircraft/Submitted photo)

Bend-based Epic Aircraft is nearing completion of its E1000 turboprop prototype, an airplane the company hopes the Federal Aviation Administration will certify for production next year.

The company held a job fair Thursday to hire the people it needs to bring the project to its final stage, said company Sales Director Mike Schrader.

He told Flightglobal.com in June that Epic expects to fly the E1000 in October at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando, Florida, and launch a major sales push.

The E1000, a manufactured version of the Epic LT owner-built kit plane, will appeal to business owners whose companies have facilities in multiple locations, Schrader said.

“This airplane offers them that capability,” he said. “The first certification will be in the U.S. market; then we’ll start stepping out to other markets.”

Epic has given new life to an airplane-making industry in Deschutes County that essentially died in the wake of the Great Recession. The county lost more than 700 airplane manufacturing jobs by 2009, with the closure of Cessna Aircraft’s Bend factory and the bankruptcy of Epic Air, the predecessor of Epic Aircraft.

A group of Epic Air customers won control of the company in a 2010 bankruptcy hearing, after being initially outbid by a Kansas company and a company controlled by the Chinese government, according to The Bulletin’s archives. In the end, the Chinese company agreed to license the plane’s technology.

The customers, known as the LT Builders Group, restarted manufacturing of Epic LT airplane kits, and a Russian company, Engineering LLC, bought Epic Aircraft in early 2012.

Epic now employs 135 people at its facility at the Bend Municipal Airport, 50 more than in February. At the job fair, the company sought new hires in manufacturing, quality control and assembly.

Some Epic employees, including Schrader, worked for kit-plane maker Lancair International in Redmond and its former offshoot, Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Co., which made an FAA-certified plane in a factory at Bend Airport now owned by Epic. Cessna Aircraft Co. bought Columbia in 2007 and ended production in Bend two years later.

Schrader said Epic is not worried about sanctions leveled by the U.S. government against Russian firms and individuals because of the Russian actions in Crimea and Ukraine. Engineering LLC is not sanctioned.

“No, we’re not concerned at all,” he said. “The parent company has brought all the funds necessary to make the project work into the states. They’re aviation enthusiasts on top of being an aviation company, so they’re very supportive of what we’re doing.

Epic has a hurdle to clear in order to certify the E1000 under FAA airworthiness standards, also known as Part 23 of FAA regulations, said Larry Anglisano, editor of Aviation Consumer magazine. “It’s … more complicated when you have to certify something under Part 23; you’ve got a lot of other requirements, and more things you need to do to get the airplane certified,” he said Thursday.

For example, he said, Epic needed to engineer the E1000 down to a stall speed of 61 knots. A higher stall speed means installing heavier seats to comply with Part 23, which would reduce the airplane’s carrying capacity.

“The LT was around 63 (knots),” Anglisano said. “They’ve got some work to do to get that stall speed to a Part 23 requirement.”

In its sales brochure, Epic says the composite, carbon-fiber E1000 will cruise at 325 knots, climb at 4,000 feet per minute and have a range of 1,650 nautical miles.

Schrader said the company already has more than 60 orders pending for the E1000. However, Anglisano said, Epic is not alone in the business aviation market and will face competition for sales.

“As far as I can tell, the main competition in the market is going to be the (Daher) Socata TBM 900,” he said, referring to the plane made by Daher-Socata in France.

The TBM also has a Pratt & Whitney engine, although a different version than the E1000. The TBM sells for more than $3 million; the E1000 will be listed at around $2.75 million.

“We actually flew (the E1000) less than a year ago and was pretty impressed with what it did, both in speed and handling,” Anglisano said. The 1,200-horsepower Pratt & Whitney “is a lot of engine for that airframe.”

The E1000 will compete, too, with small jet aircraft and multiengine aircraft, he said.

The good news is that the market for business aircraft has seen some recovery, said Dan Hubbard, senior vice president for communications for the National Business Aviation Association.

“Recovery has not been a straight line,” Hubbard said. “What we see today is aircraft sales for all types are beginning to firm up.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7815,

jditzler@bendbulletin.com