Russian-owned, Oregon-based small plane manufacturer Epic Aircraft has finally released its E1000 GX turboprop plane for a cool $3.85 million price tag. The plane, which received FAA certification in 2019, features several advanced flight control technologies and powerful new design features meant to deliver high “jet-class performance” according to the company’s promotional material.
Two examples of the new turboprop plane are on display at the EAA AirVenture event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this week and will be there until the air show ends on August 1st. These two planes themselves are slated for delivery to actual customers for flight training next week after AirVenture ends. According to Mike Schrader, Epic’s Director of Sales, two more will be built soon afterward.
“This is the first year which we have a certified plane at Oshkosh,” said Schrader, and further elaborated that “I expect once we get this airplane out in front of more people, we are going to see a lot more orders coming in”. The sales director claims that Epic plans on taking their new machine for a cross-country demo tour in the following months.
The small buy roomy plane could be a popular choice for personal use buyers and private air charter services as well.
Epic is planning a production run of at least 14 E1000 GX planes for all of 2021 and hopes to deliver at least one aircraft per month. Total production is expected to increase to 23 deliveries for 2022 despite a planned price increase during the next year.
The E1000 GX offers high-powered performance for a single propeller turboprop plane. Its 1200 horsepower engine can deliver a cruising speed of 333 knots and a climb rate of 4,000 feet per minute. Along with speed and power, the plane has a range of 1,560 nautical miles on a 1,100-pound fuel payload.
The GX also features a Garmin G1000 NXi flight deck, a Garmin GFC-700 automated flight control system, and a five-blade Hartzell propeller made of durable composite material.
The 280-employee company has also been ramping up training of instructor pilots in its Oregon headquarters and will be adding a Frasca flight simulator as of September for improved instruction performance. The company expects at least half of its planned GX buyers to need at least 50 hours of extra training for this particular plane with mentor pilots.
Photo Credit: Mark Huber