It was a somber start to Sun ‘n Fun for Epic Aircraft officials with confirmation that Natalia Fileva, the wife of the Bend, Oregon, company’s owner, Vladislav Fileva, was killed in the crash of an Epic LT in Germany on Sunday. Fileva was co-owner of S7 Airlines with her husband. S7 owns Engineering LLC, the parent company of Epic. Filev’s father was also killed, as was the pilot. There is so far no word on a possible cause for the crash, which occurred just after noon on a clear and warm day. “It was an isolated incident,” said Mike Schrader, VP of sales and marketing for Epic. “They’re just trying to wrap their arms around it.”
German officials said there were no distress calls or any indication anything was unusual before the plane disappeared from radar while heading to Frankfurt. The crash occurred about 10 miles south of Frankfurt. Fileva was flying to Frankfurt from France for medical treatment. European and Russian authorities are investigating. The LT is a kit-built aircraft in the U.S. but it’s not clear under what circumstances it was flying in Europe. It was registered in Russia. The Russian company bought Epic in 2012 with a goal of certifying the Epic LT.
