(Epic Aircraft’s CEO Doug King (second from right) is shown with a group of visitors during a tour of the company’s factory | Photo courtesy of Epic Aircraft)
To call Epic Aircraft CEO Doug King “hands on” is a thoroughly accurate descriptor, as invited guests from as far away as South Carolina, Montana, and Texas learned during a recent visit to the company’s Bend factory headquarters.
Having received FAA certification five years ago for the company’s all-carbon fiber Epic E1000 GX — after seven years of design, manufacturing and testing — King describes the six-seat, fully factory-built aircraft as “the fastest and most fuel-efficient single-engine aircraft in its class.”
And King (who has led the company since 2010) has good reason to be proud, as the sought-after FAA certification “signaled the arrival of a truly game-changing aircraft — one that is going to disrupt the aviation industry, and set a new standard for innovation, performance, and price,” he has been quoted as saying.
He also pointed out that the Epic E100 GX was just named the “Coolest Thing Made in Oregon” during the second annual Vision Oregon event held in Portland — standing out among more than 250 nominations and 16 products that were selected by a panel of experts.
Said King in accepting the honor: “Epic Aircraft is honored to have landed the top spot for the high-performance, single-engine turboprop that we build from start to finish. What comes in as a roll of carbon fiber fabric in one end of the factory comes out of the other end as a beautiful, sleek airplane built by a talented team of over 475 employees. I am really proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
“Doug always has a smile on his face when talking about the Epic E1000 GX,” observed Amy Foster Trenz, the company’s sales and marketing director.
Epic Aircraft is ramping up production to meet increased demand, with King’s goal for 2025 “to be sold out for several years. We currently produce a new aircraft every nine business days, or just over two a month,” he said. The 80th certified airplane will be delivered by the end of 2024.
The company owns and occupies 300,000 square feet of factory space, which King showed to his guests during a walk-through that encompassed the production process from fabrication to bonding to final assembly. “We’re the largest renter of land from the City of Bend,” he said.
“Our philosophy is ‘safety first,’ from the spinner to the tail, and we are delivering an incredibly safe aircraft. Safety is paramount,” he emphasized.
That ethos extends to the company’s factory-based, customer training program, which Peter King, Epic’s chief pilot (and no relation to the company’s CEO), spent five years developing. As customers range from part-time pilots to those for whom “flying is their career,” the program’s lesson plan is flexible to accommodate a range of abilities until mastery of some 83 tasks and skills has been demonstrated. “It’s all about setting you up for success,” he said.
King further claimed that “We have the best safety record in the industry,” adding that “Epic has had zero accidents or incidents in the last five years. I’m holding that close.”
It’s obvious that the sense of pride shown by Peter King is characteristic of Epic Aircraft’s culture. “We like to foster a family feeling,” said Amy Foster Trenz, “which includes partners and owners. It’s an all-company effort to produce this aircraft involving a lot of people and a lot of hands.”
In a related vein, “The on-the-job learning we offer attracts a wide spectrum of talent. It’s a great entry-level job with huge advancement opportunities,” she said. “We’re always hiring here,” added CEO King.
The owner of an Epic himself, he has flown it around the world and amassed 3,600 hours. “The plane is like part of the family,” King said.
As part of the event, guests gathered around a simulator of the all-composite, single-engine turboprop airplane that is used extensively during training. Sitting side by side with King in the cabin, a colleague from the early days said to him, “You’ve come a very, very long way.”
