Epic Aircraft

[4][5] The company was founded by Rick Schrameck, who was experienced in the computer hardware and aviation composites industries, in 2004 in Bend, Oregon due to public incentives, including state loans and grants of US$1.3M.

[11] The layoffs primarily affected the aircraft's owner-assisted build center,[15] where customers worked on their own kits.

Without his customers’ knowledge, Schrameck used the funds for other projects, to complete existing Epic LT aircraft, and to support his own lavish lifestyle.

"[20][21] Epic LT owner Doug King filed a motion requesting that the bankruptcy proceedings be moved from Nevada to Bend.

That filing included a sworn statement by Chief Financial Officer David Clark, saying that Epic owed its customer builders an estimated US$15 million for parts and that the company had no money to pay those debts.

The hearing judge admonished the LT Builders Group for their bid describing it as "pathetic, useless, incompetent, unacceptable, garbage and fiction" but gave the group another chance to improve their position and reserved his decision on the final winner of the auction until 2 April 2010.

[23][24][25][26] On 2 April 2010, the judge issued a judgement ordering China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. Ltd. to make an agreement with the LT Builders Group to acquire Epic's assets.

He was the CEO of the LT Builders Group,[31] and had owned several transaction processing and computer services businesses and had revitalized operations of Syncro Aircraft.

The company indicated that it expected to hire 40-80 new employees in 2013 as part of the certification effort and to expand kit production.

[40] The design encountered a set-back in the summer of 2018 when it was discovered that it was 10 to 20 kn (19 to 37 km/h) slower than its promised cruise speed.

[33] On 31 March 2019 Filev's wife, Natalia Fileva, was killed in the crash of an Epic LT on approach to the Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport.

[47] That December, Epic and ATP, an aircraft software company, announced a partnership for tracking maintenance and distributing technical publications.[48][49][importance?]

In July 2021, the updated E1000 GX received its FAA type certificate, equipped with Garmin's GFC 700 autopilot and a Hartzell 5-blade composite propeller.

[50] By the end of July, Epic expanded its service network to three facilities in the United States with a Fort Worth-based maintenance station.

Epic LT experimental single turboprop aircraft
Epic Victory single jet aircraft
Epic Elite twin turbojet aircraft
Epic E1000 single turboprop aircraft