Just ask Epic CEO Doug King, who has led the company since 2010. According to King, the enhancements to the engine’s induction system—which improved performance in cruise and climb—were worth it.

It’s not because of any limitations, but instead that a certified aircraft is a completely different animal than one that’s crafted to a particular builder’s specs—and can use non-TSO components and take reasonable liberties with certain aspects of the final build, fit, and finish.

• READ MORE: We Fly: Epic Aircraft E1000 GX

At the base, though, is one tough airframe. Carbon fiber doesn’t corrode or fatigue in the same way as metal. Epic tested the fuselage and wings to twice the standards required by the FAA during certification, according to the company.

During our walkthrough of the factory, all of the investments added up. For example, many of the primary airframe components are now molded from pre-impregnated carbon fiber materials and oven-cured as opposed to being laid up under a vacuum-bagging process on site. Serial numbers 32 and 33 were coming together during our visit in late August on the final assembly positions. By early November, the customer for SN 32 was about to take delivery of their new Epic.

Mx for the GX

Progressive aircraft maintenance is managed through ATP Flightdocs, which includes a dashboard to help track when inspection and other items come due, and a digital logbook to enhance aircraft value retention. Service centers have continuous access to factory parts and support to help reduce any AOG (aircraft on ground) time. Those centers—eight at press time—are positioned across the U.S. and include Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport (KFXE), Ft. Worth Meacham International Airport (KFTW), Henderson (KHND) and North LasVegas (KVGT) airports, and the factory’s home base in Bend, among others.

Epic Aircraft also knows that its speedy turboprop puts its pilots into the same class as light jets—so it has implemented the kind of safety management system you’d find at transport-category OEMs. Solutions to issues raised come from a joint cross-functional team and turn into action—whether that’s on the production floor, the service center, or in the training program.

Epic Training

Just as important as factory support to the success of a new aircraft is a competent pilot training program. According to Epic, each owner—regardless of whether they acquire the airplane new or used—is obligated under the sales contract to receive and pass the OEM’s training program.

The syllabus begins with remote learning courses, then moves to in-person lessons and time with the avionics kiosk to learn the integrated flight deck and flight management systems. The course then moves to the FlightSafety International Epic E1000 GX fixed-base flight training device (FTD), built by Frasca with its 220-degree wraparound TruVision visual system, located at the company’s headquarters in Bend. Finishing touches take place when the pilot flies with an Epic-trained mentor pilot in their airplane. The realistic FTD experience impressed me during my time going through emergency and abnormal procedures that would be hazardous to replicate in the airplane.

• READ MORE: Turboprops: A Return to Rosy Skies

The program—modeled on a piston-to-turbine type rating transition—covers 82 skills the new Epic pilot will apply to flying their airplane. Peter King, Epic’s flight training program manager, walked me through the highly flexible course. “We started the program with the understanding that our customer base was going to be very broad in terms of who is flying the airplane,” King said, “from pro pilots who are already used to structured, regimented, Part 142-style training to pilot-owners who would be migrating up from a variety of different experiences,” from light piston twins and Piper M-class turboprops to single-engine Diamond and Cirrus aircraft. “Our program is an end result. You’re going to go off and fly this plane with your family in weather, potentially, on missions that are going to range all over the place. So we actually hold a higher standard than you would typically see [for a] private, instrument-rating [course]. Pilots have to acquire a level of skills that we are colloquially calling turbine pilot skills.” Instructors at Epic look for the following: Does the pilot maintain situational awareness? Are they communicating and negotiating effectively with air traffic control? Are they fluent in the automation, not just able to push buttons in a given sequence?

I spent time with mentor pilot Chris Prusak, of PRP Aviation in Ocala, Florida, over the course of a long weekend as we captured the photos for this feature and the issue’s cover. Prusak fits the profile of what Epic looks for in its mentors: are tired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Prusak flew theF-15 Eagle before segueing to the Airbus A320 for JetBlue. “The Epic 1000 GX Mentoring Program is an excellent opportunity to reinforce the awesome lessons learned during a new owner’s initial qualification at Bend,” Prusak said. “More importantly, it forms a gateway to safely transition from operations below 25,000 feet and airspeeds less than 200 knots to where the aircraft is operating in environments where there is little margin for error when non-normal events occur—and the aircraft is exceeding 5 nm per minute over the ground.”

This article was originally published in the December 2022/January 2023 Issue 933 of FLYING.

The post An Epic Build appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

That’s even more important when the Epic E1000 GX you’re strapped into accelerates down the runway pulled by 1,200 jet-A-propelled horses and five blades cutting through the gummy Seattle air.

As we taxi out to the departure end of Runway 16 at the Renton Municipal Airport (KRNT), I check in with Epic Aircraft demo pilot Tony Paradis to assess if, by his countenance, he appears ready to engage his plan. I feel pretty good about mine, but it has been 15 years since I last flew an Epic—and that was an experimental LT version, crafted under the company’s factory-assist-build program in early 2007.

The Takeoff

We brief the Renton 3 Departure and the subsequent route to Bend Municipal Airport (KBDN) in Oregon, where Epic is based. There’s a heading we’re supposed to track—150 degrees—until 1,000 feet msl, then a left turn to 130 degrees for the remainder until given another heading on course or left to our own devices (literally). It seems to me like we’re going to blow through that first thousand feet quickly. I’m not wrong.

Lined up and ready—really ready—to go, I move the power lever forward and feel the incredible torque pulled by the Hartzell prop tractoring the 1,200 shaft horsepower (at takeoff power) Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67A engine. It takes a lot of right rudder to keep it on the centerline, which Paradis had briefed me on, but even being told to anticipate it, it still takes me a second to catch up. We lift off after using just over half the runway at nearly 1,000 pounds below the maximum takeoff weight of 8,000 pounds.

Indeed, we blow through 1,000 feet—after tucking up the gear and flaps—accelerating with a climb rate between 2,000 and 2,500 fpm. A power reduction to 89 percent torque and 90 gph fuel flow comes just a couple of minutes after departure when we’re already on our way through 5,000 feet msl, and with that—by necessity—the right rudder comes back out. The control authority granted by the large tail surface is crystal clear. Because we have folks in the back, we set the yaw damper on at this point as well—and the YD goes a long way to smoothing things out. The reduction keeps us below max continuous power, which is 1,000 shp and a prop speed of 1,700 rpm.

After continuing the climb between 2,900 and 3,500 fpm, we exit the Seattle Class B veil. I level off once we reach 27,000 feet, our filed altitude, and we enjoy a nice little tailwind—up to 32 knots—for most of the hour-long flight back to Bend. At FL 270, we clock about 325 ktas, burning about 58 gph at an average of ISA +17 Celsius. We originally showed a 45-minute flight, but opt to stop along the way to perform a few gentle maneuvers, to continue my introduction to the certified version of the E1000’s predecessor, the experimental category Epic LT that I first flew in 2006 and 2007. It’s a new model to be sure, somewhat tamed from the original—but still reverberatingly fast.

A. The Wedge annunciator panel tells us if we’re ready to go—and an angle of attack gauge keeps us advised of the lift we have left.

B. The standby ESI-500 electronic instrument comes from L3Harris, and it incorporates a solid-state backup battery.

C. The Garmin G1000 NXi comes with two pilot and copilot displays: the GDU 1050 PFDs measure 10 inches and the GDU 1250 center display comes in at 12 inches.

D. The yaw damper, automatic trim, and coupled go-around capabilities come with the addition of the Garmin GFC 700 autopilot integrated into the G1000NXi in the GX mode.

A Long-Term Project

The LT was the brainchild of Epic’s engineering team in the early 2000s, with previous company leadership at the helm during the initial phase. Epic’s factory-assist-build program for the LT rode the wave of that process’s increasing popularity at the time—but it was a long road to get from the experimental version to the one that would secure an FAA Part 23 type certificate.

Yes, from 20 feet away, the LT and the E1000 GX look very similar, but a comprehensive list of changes and evolutions had to take place in the airframe, avionics, and components before certification could be achieved—which came to be in November 2019. And there have been upgrades to the model since that first one—the E1000—won FLYING’s Innovation Award in 2020, as we reported in the August 2020 issue. The GX gained its type certification in July 2021, just nine months later, and includes Hartzell’s composite propeller and the Garmin GFC 700 automated flight control system—fully integrated with the G1000 NXi flight deck up front. It takes the place of the Genesys Aerosystems S-Tec IntelliFlight 2100 autopilot originally included in the avionics package.

According to pilots who have flown both the original E1000 and the GX, the addition of the five-blade prop went a long way towards reducing noise and vibration both inside and outside the airplane.

Airwork

Back in Bend, Paradis and I took another flight the next day to ensure we captured a climb all the way to the E1000 GX’s maximum altitude of 34,000 feet msl from Bend’s field elevation of 3,459 feet—which took roughly 18 minutes, according to FlightAware. It gave us the opportunity to put the E1000 through a more aggressive maneuvers profile as well. 

The engine start followed the checklist and buttons deftly organized in sequence on the left-hand subpanel, with the pilot managing the initialization procedures and finalizing their completion with a check of the Wedge annunciation panel on the upper left-hand corner of the flight deck before takeoff. Not only does the Wedge include the departure checklist annunciation system, it also presents the angle of attack indicator right in the pilot’s field of view.

We departed on Runway 34 at KBDN to the northwest, and after a chicane to keep us clear of Redmond’s airspace to the north, we were cleared to climb to FL 340 almost without interruption. A straight-line speed run demonstrated a top mark during our test of 0.53 Mach or 316 ktas at ISA +8 Celsius—the E1000 GX hits its sweet spot in speed around FL 260, but this still impressed me.

What climbs fast also descends like a freight train—since the flight levels weren’t ideal for maneuvers, we pushed N831VF into a steep descent, coursing down to 10,000 feet msl at upwards of 4,500 fpm at times. Time to kick off the enhanced stability protection on the G1000 and get rid of the “silent nudge” coaxing us back into straight and level. Our flight track then dipped into a series of steep turns, slow flight, and initial stall entries to help me understand the airplane’s handling and low-speed flight characteristics.

Roll response was sharp even as we came down through the top of the white arc at 130 kias—also best glide speed, reminding you this is a sleek airframe—with the AOA just tapping the top of the green range.

Return to Base

The GX has a maximum landing weight of 7,600 pounds—which means you need to burn off 400 pounds of fuel before returning if you take off at the MTOW of 8,000 pounds. The top end of the useful load is a stout 2,860 pounds, with a full-fuel load of 1,100 pounds.

You’re more likely to cube out the cabin with extra stuff, though it too leads the class at a width of 54.4 inches at its widest point behind the front two seats. The pitch distance between the rear club seats is a full 31.2 inches, giving a generous amount of legroom for those in the back.

An area of minor concern expressed by potential owners relates to the door—the closing of it is straightforward but a bit “fiddly,” and it lacks a side rail or other kind of assistance with which to leverage yourself up and inside. And the glass window set within the door—in an area that is likely the target of FOD from passengers stepping in without realizing the possible fragility of the photovoltaic dimming inset—may take a hit more readily, so it pays to treat it with care during use.

Operators we spoke to—who go by the philosophy to baby any powerplant—point out that a nice happy place lies snugly in the normal cruise settings, at an initial 83 percent torque down low, dropping off in the climb. This translates into about 311 ktas at FL 340, and an enviable balance between speed and economy—as low as 47 gph.

EPIC E1000 GX

Price (as tested): $4,190,000

Powerplant: Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67A, 1,200 shp

Propeller: Hartzell 5-blade composite, 105-in. diameter

Seats: 6 

Length: 35 ft. 10 in.

Height: 12 ft. 6 in.

Cabin Width: 4 ft. 7 in.

Wingspan: 43 ft.

Baggage Volume:18 cu. Ft.

Fuel Capacity: 264 gal. usable

Max Takeoff Weight: 8,000 lb.

Useful Load: 2,860 lb.

Full Fuel Payload: 1,100 lb.

Max Rate of Climb: 4,000 fpm

Normal Cruise Speed/Fuel Burn: 49gph at 315 ktas, FL 340

Range: 1,560 nm

Max Cruise Speed: 333 ktas

Stall Speed (ldg config): 68 kias

Takeoff Distance (over a 50-ft. obs.): 2,254 ft.

Landing Distance (over a 50-ft. obs.): 2,399 ft.

This article was originally published in the December 2022/January 2023 Issue 933 of FLYING.

The post We Fly: Epic Aircraft E1000 <i>GX</i> appeared first on FLYING Magazine.