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"Epic LT:  King Kong Turboprop" Pilot Journal September/October 2008
By Bill Cox

Nearly 30 years ago, I spent several days at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, participating in a Red Flag exercise and flying the amazing F-15 Eagle with Lieutenant Colonel Timothy O'Keefe, veteran fighter pilot and then-commander of the 433rd Fighter Weapons Squadron. For a general aviation pilot, the F-15 experience was an eye-opener into the world of the ultimate fighter, an exercise in maximum speed and seemingly limitless power. When we got back on the ground at Nellis, I jokingly asked Colonel O'Keefe if the airplane had enough power. He looked me straight in the eye and said, with only a slight hint of humor, "You can never have enough power."

Colonel O'Keefe would love the Epic LT. In general aviation ranks, Rick Schrameck's innovative airplane is something else. Schrameck, a Las Vegas-based entrepreneur, delights in shaking up the aviation industry, and Epic Aircraft does exactly that.

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"FAA Grandfathering Existing Aircraft Kits" Twin & Turbine June 2008
Existing aircraft kits that have already been approved by the FAA will not be re-evaluated according to a written notice from the FAA, grandfathering them in; however the agency has suspended kit evaluations temporarily while new procedures are developed.

Although kit evaluations have never been required, the FAA performs these as a courtesy in determining whether amateur-built kits could be eligible for proper certifications.
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"Lofty Visions" Bend Bulletin October 28, 2007

In the swirling winds of Central Oregon's aviation industry, Schrameck is riding an updraft.
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"An Epic Day For Epic Aircraft" AVWeb September 27, 2007

Epic Aircraft will partner with Indian billionaire Dr. Vijay Mallya, CEO Rick Schrameck announced at the National Business Aviation Association expo in Atlanta, Ga., on Wednesday morning. The deal provides Epic with plenty of cash to accelerate the process of bringing its growing line of aircraft, including several light-jet models, to the certified market.
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"Kingfisher Swoops To Take 50% Of Epic" Flight Evening News September 26, 2007
India's Kingfisher Airlines is now half owner of Epic Aircraft, the young Oregon-based OEM. The deal will also give Epic access to Airbus resources as it strives to accelerate certification of new aircraft including its Elite and Victory very light jets.

"We will still be operating the company," said Epic president and chief executive Rick Schrameck.  Ownership is 50/50 under the $200 million deal with Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya.  He is also head of UB Holdings, which owns 26% of Deccan Aviation.
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"India's Pioneering Entrepreneur Taking $200 Million Stake in Epic" Aero-News.net September 26, 2007

Epic Aircraft stands to get a major boost in its aspirations to become one of the top two jet makers in the world, thanks to an entrepreneur from India who seems to possess the Midas Touch.
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"Getting Personal" Flight Evening News September 25, 2007
When the jets are small, it's easier to take them home. "You've got owner-operators who may fly for pleasure, but they also fly for business trips," says Rick Schrameck, chairman of Epic Aircraft, which revealed its single-engine Victory and double-engine Elite together at AirVenture in Oshkosh. "Choice is very important," he grins.
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"Airbags of the Sky: Whole-Airframe Parachutes Meet Personal Jets" Popular Mechanics September 2007

Hitting the ground at 25 ft. per second sounds almost cushy. That's the speed at which a plane will land when dangling from a whole-airframe parachute:  It's 5 ft. per second faster than a sky diver lands, and the bone-jarring equivalent of an 11- to 13-ft. drop.
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"Epic Joins The VLJ Market" Pilot Journal September/October 2007
Don't ever challenge Rick Schrameck to a quick draw contest.  You'll lose. The owner of Epic Aircraft is one of those get-it-done type of guys who doesn't let much stand in his way. Case in point: the new Epic jets.
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"Epic Flies Twin, Single Jets to Oshkosh" AVweb July 24, 2007

Epic unveiled two prototype jets at EAA AirVenture on Monday, proving its development schedule is as aggressive as its marketing campaign.  Not only did the Victory single and Elite twin arrive as scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. press conference, but they took to the air a few hours later in demo flights for the airshow crowd. Not bad considering the Victory wasn't even on the virtual drawing board until last December.
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"Epic Introduces Two New Jets" EAA AirVenture Today Online July 24, 2007

Epic CEO Rick Schrameck became misty eyed as he told how his small design team had gone from a clean sheet of paper to flight testing the Epic Victory in just more than six months.
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"Origins of A Dynasty" AOPA Pilot July 2007
The Epic LT packs a 1,200-shaft-horse-power Pratt & Whitney PT6-67A on its lean frame. When you compare the stats between the Epic LT and other PT6-powered rides (such as the 7,430-lb EADS Socata TBM 850 shp, or the 8,750-lb Cessna Grand Caravan, with a PT6A producing 675 shp), you can't help but expect great things-such as excellent cruise speeds and impressive climb rates. The LT delivers both, with the Dynasty likely to follow, as it will have the same engine and propeller combination on the same airframe.
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"Epic Air CEO Rick Schrameck Rattling the VLJ Market" CharterX.com July 13, 2007

"In our research, we couldn't find another company that has demonstrated this kind of focus and commitment to bringing an aircraft from the proverbial drawing boards to reality in this length of time," says Schrameck. "Considering that the Victory is a clean-sheet design, a mere 28 weeks from conception, it proves that Epic Air has the best engineers and manufacturing talent in the world."
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"Victory Is In The Air For Epic Aircraft" AVwebFlash July 9, 2007

The Victory's achievement is astonishing given its short seven-month design to first flight timeline (rivaling that of the famed P-51 Mustang), as well as because it follows the first flight of the company's other clean-sheet jet -- the Elite twin-engine VLJ -- by only a month.
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"Epic Elite VLJ Makes First Flight" AVwebFlash June 10, 2007

The Company said the Elite Jet will first be available later this year as a seven-passenger kitbuilt aircraft, with an eight-passenger verysion slated to be certified in late 2009. The Epic Elite is scheduled to make its public debut next month at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wis.
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"Aviation: Fast Company" Robb Report May 1, 2007

Having received the tower's appreciation of his plane and its instructions for takeoff, Hooper, Chief Pilot for Epic Air, taxis behind a midsize jet. When it leaves the ground, he accelerates down the runway, climbs quickly to 5,000 feet, and passes the jet. Soon the experimental aircraft reaches 300 mph.
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"Epic's Rick Schrameck Talks About His Company's Latest Offerings" AVwebFlash Podcast April 27, 2007

AVweb Editor-in-Chief Chad Trautvetter caught up with Epic Aircraft CEO Rick Schrameck at the Sun'n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, last week to find out more about the two new airplanes the company announced at the show.
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"Epic Unveils Two New Speedsters" Sun'n Fun Today April 19, 2007

"We are going to deliver what other people have promised," stated Epic CEO and Chairman, Rick Schrameck. "On time, faster than anything else that's been done, and at a price that others have promised for lots of years, and we're doing it in 2007 dollars."
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"The Evolution of Epic" Plane & Pilot May 2007

Epic operates a 100,000-square-foot facility in Bend, Ore., producing components for the Epic LT and providing builder assistance in the actual construction of the aircraft. The company currently employs 150 people at Bend, and nine Epic homebuilts have flown away at this writing. The backlog on the world's most impresseve experimental aircraft is nearly 30 airplanes, which means 40 pilots so far have written checks for more than $1 million dollars for an airplane they know they'll still have to build. With a 4,000 fpm climb ratee, 335-knot cruise speed and full six-seat payload, the Epic LT is probably the most exotic homebuilt ever offered. It's also the most expensive, but that doesn't seem to have inhibited sales.
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"Dynasty in the Making" Twin & Turbine March 2007

With the Epic Dynasty you get a beautiful composite airplane with turboprop reliability, that flies at near-jet speeds but has lower acquisition and operating costs, hauls six people above most all the weather in leather-upholstered comfort and, when you park it, everybody notices you.
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"Turboprop Mainstays Report" Professional Pilot February 2007

With more than 1500 hrs of flight testing logged toward certification, the single-engine Epic Dynasty is already pushing the performance envelope. The pressurized carbon composite airframe can take off with full fuel and all 6 seats occupied, then climb to the flight levels and cruise up to 340 kts. The Dynasty's 1200-shp Pratt & Whitney PT6 will help the aircraft to achieve an IFR range of 1874 nm with optional long-range tanks.
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"All New Epic 'Dynasty' VLJ Debuts At NBAA & AOPA Expo" Midwest Flyer February/March 2007

"From the beginning, the Dynasty was designed to be the fastest, most comfortable and most economical VLJ," said Epic's Chief Executive Officer, Rick Schrameck. "The Dynasty delivers jet performance at a fraction of the cost of a twin turboprop or fanjet VLJ."
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"Flying Their Own Planes Saves Time" USA Today January 18, 2007

The added hassles of business travel from tightened security and airline cost-cutting since the Sept. 11 terrorism has helped fuel an increase in the business use of personal aircraft. Encouraged by a growing economy and a generally favorable business climate, many business people - particularly those who live far from a big-city hub - are realizing that piloting their own planes saves time and, in some cases, money.
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"Skyward" The Globe and Mail November 6, 2006

Business is soaring for Canada's aerospace sector. With 75,000 Canadians employed and revenues of $21.8 billion, that's good news for Canada. With the post-9/11 doldrums behind it and promising signals including a globally buoyant aerospace sector, Canada's new defence spending and solid growth in business aviation, the future appears bright. The question is, what will it take to keep Canada's momentum going?
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"Another US Planemaker Heads North" Way.Points November/December 2006

The aircraft, which has been sold as a kit under the name Epic LT, will be certified through a new Transport Canada program in conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Aerospace Development (CCAD). Dynasty will be the first project for the centre and the Epic Elite, a jet based on the same design, will be its second project.
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"Can a T-Prop Be a VLJ? Epic Dynasty Says It Can." AIN Online October 19, 2006

Just because an airplane swings a propeller doesn't mean it can't be a VLJ. That was the theme Rick Schrameck, chairman and CEO of Aircraft Investor Resources (AIR), emphasized while introducing the single-engine turboprop Epic Dynasty, here at the NBAA Convention on Monday.
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"New Turboprops" Aviation International News September 2006

According to GAMA, manufacturers last year shipped nearly 14 percent more turboprops (365) than they did in the previous 12 months (321). The trend has continued for the first half of this year; shipments of pressurized turboprops rose 35 percent, from 96 during the first six months of last year to 129 in the same period this year.
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"Epic Aircraft Will Expand to Canada" The Bulletin September 2006


A top official with Epic Aircraft wants to make one point clear: The airplane manufacturer is not leaving Bend. "We have an $8 million building here," said Rick Schrameck, CEO of the Las Vegas-based Aircraft Investor Resources LLC, Epic's parent company. "We have trained people here, and we're not going anywhere.
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"1,200 Horses!" Pilot Journal September/October 2005

The three partners pooled their resources to create a single-engine turboprop with a difference, a supreme high-performance machine capable of carrying six people and full fuel at near-jet speeds across half a continent.
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"It's Epic" Kitplanes August 2005

If it's indeed true that speed sells, the Epic LT ought to be popping out of the molds in Bend, Oregon, at a ferocious pace. After all, this outsized six-seater, offered initially as an Experimental/Amateur-Built aircraft but destined to be FAR Part 23 certified and mass produced, cooks along at an eye-widening 403 mph-a number that still sounds mighty impressive as 350 knots. That's fleeter yet than the Turbine Legend and even a turbine-powered Lancair IV. If you're shopping across the aisle in production turboprop singles, know that the current Epic beats the Pilatus PC-12, which boasts the same total power, by 80 knots and the EADS/Socata TBM700 by a solid 50 knots.
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