Epic Aircraft is aiming for certification of its big E1000 turboprop single by the end of the year with deliveries to begin by 2019. At a news conference at AirVenture 2018, Mike Schrader, director of sales and marketing, said the plan is to build eight to 12 customer aircraft in 2019, 24 in 2020, 36 in 2021 and reach full production of 50 in 2022. “We are fully funded and we are fully committed,” Schrader said. The company is owned by a Russian aerospace firm that also owns an airline and has been fully supportive of the project, said Schrader.
Schrader said the company is also adding a second manufacturing facility at its Bend, Oregon, headquarters to accommodate the anticipated growth. The last big milestone was structural testing and that was completed just before the show. That included testing the wing to 19,000 pounds with a 31-inch deflection and inflating the pressure vessel to 18 psi, almost three times the 6.6 psi operating pressure differential. New equipment has been added and 24-hour production will ultimately be possible.
