EPIC AIRCRAFT RECEIVES FAA PRODUCTION CERTIFICATE

July 23, 2020 — Bend, Ore. — Epic Aircraft today announced it has received FAA Production Certificate (PC) for its E1000 all carbon fiber six-seat, single-engine turboprop. This allows Epic to accelerate aircraft deliveries by enabling them to manufacture, flight test and issue airworthiness certificates with reduced FAA presence.

“Achieving FAA Production Certificate is tremendous milestone,” said Epic CEO, Doug King. “It is a rigorous process involving the approval of a vast number of documents, processes and systems, with composites adding additional complexity. This approval validates the extraordinary efforts of our team and the extensive investments we have made in our world-class manufacturing and quality control systems.

”The company’s pursuit of FAA Production Certification started years ago, in tandem with its Type Certification program, which concluded in November 2019. Epic was poised several months ago to complete the FAA Production Audit, a precursor to Production Certificate, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans. FAA-mandated travel limitations restricted onsite visits, which are typically essential to the PC approval process.

The FAA and Epic collaborated to devise new processes, using remote technologies, to conduct the required series of reviews and audits, prior to the final onsite assessment. “We applaud the FAA for their rapid adoption of these new tools and technologies in the face of this pandemic, allowing us to keep the PC process moving forward and ultimately achieving final approvals,” commented King.

The FAA presented the Production Certificate to CEO, Doug King, surrounded by his manufacturing team in the E1000 Final Assembly area. The company has completed three customer aircraft deliveries so far this year, with plans to now further accelerate production schedules.

Powered by the Pratt & Whitney 1200-horsepower PT6A-67A engine, the Epic E1000 all carbon fiber single-engine turboprop flies at max cruise speeds of 333 knots, climbs at 4,000 feet per minute, operates up to 34,000 feet, and offers a full fuel payload of 1,100 pounds.

### ABOUT EPIC AIRCRAFT: Epic Aircraft, LLC specializes in the design and manufacture of high performance, all composite, six-seat single-engine, turboprop aircraft. Epic is a privately held, design-driven aviation company that conducts all of its engineering, manufacturing and administrative operations at its Bend, Oregon headquarters. For more information about Epic Aircraft, please visit www.epicaircraft.com.

Awesome. I hope they sell a bunch of them.

So riddle me this. If epic can do fl340, why can’t other singles?

A cirrus jet that can go to FL350 would be rad.

Will this have any significant effect on the SETP market?

Best,

Tom

[quote="Anthony Pigliacampo"
A cirrus jet that can go to FL350 would be rad.[/quote]

Here’s one that’s 25% there already.

It is another nice option. But from the standpoint of getting into the market, I don't think it will cause much if any downward pressure on the SETP market. The prices seem to be pretty fixed. Just not a lot of markup built into these low volume production aircraft. Conversely, competition in a small boutique market may actually be bad in that as competition decreases volume from each OEM, the cost per unit goes up for the OEM, giving them even less room to drop prices. I think Mooney was still asking full retail on their birds until the day they closed the doors.

Looks like combination of wing area, low weight and more power. Same HP as a pc-12 but thousands of pounds lighter.

Sorry, should have been more clear.

In the 1000 page vision jet thread, Mike C pointed out many times that that the current certification guidelines would not let it be certified above 28k. Well, they figured out 31k but many singles were already there.

To my knowledge, e1000 is first one above 31k. A vision jet at fl350 would gain better range. If the optimized the plane for that altitude, holy cow. In my mind a 350kt single that goes to fl350 and goes 1500nm in no wind. Likely doable if I txn e certified higher.

I don't know, but feel uncomfortable on such a small plane at FL350. If cabin pressure drops, how long before unconscious at FL350, 30 seconds maybe, dead before you realize? Will need an automatic computer system to descent in case of cabin pressure loss, or?

Time of useful consciousness at FL350 during a rapid decompression would be brief, but presumably quickdon oxygen masks would mitigate the risk. That said, if I were planning to operate at that altitude I would seek out training in an altitude chamber to ensure familiarity with hypoxia symptoms. Most of the time an aircraft pressurization system doesn’t fail catastrophically. It fails in a more insidious manner. A rapid decompression at FL350 would be hard to miss and easy to mitigate by donning your mask. A slow decompression might be hard to detect until you are so hypoxic you no longer have the ability to respond.

John

I believe Stratos (SE Jet) is shooting with the 714/716 for 41,000ft (cabin 6kft @ FL410 with 10 psi diff.p) that are awsome numbers ... looks like never ending creativity in the N/W, OR, etc.
Safe flights!

The latest Cirrus Vision Jet has always had automatic descent as part of G3000 safety package.

It seems that after Payne Stewart a number of Jets have gained automatic descent capability.

https://www.propilotmag.com/automatic-descent/

30-60 seconds ...

Cabin decompression emergencies are a design factor for any high altitude platform, regardless of the number of engines it has. However, the warning systems and emergency O2 systems are well proven. It’s not like you’re going to have a slow or rapid rise in cabin altitude without multiple warnings flashing at you. There are adequate opportunities to deal with it, albeit some less pleasant than others.

There are a number of jets with EDM (emergency descent mode). I have it in the Mustang. It’s common among the newer platforms. For a single engine jet or turboprop, I consider pressurization to be the least of my concerns. It’s such a rare event that can also be quickly mitigated. There are other redundancies lacking that will pose greater challenges with single engine platforms than pressurization.

Why isn’t the pilot on Oxygen above 25,000?