for Ed and others the item below may be of interest ..... it's from Aviation
International News. I have to applaud Rick for his apparently innovative
approach in attempting to conquer two significant hurdles at the same time,
funding for certification, and in service difficulty discovery prior to
production. Looks like a hell of a plane.

Ted Stanley


July 22, 2004
Epic LT Turboprop Single Makes First Flight
Holding to a schedule announced last year, Epic Aircraft of Las Vegas flew its
prototype Epic LT for the first time on Saturday, July 17, from Redmond Airport,
not far from the company's research and development facility in Bend, Ore.,
where the airplane was assembled. Dave Morss was the test pilot. "We now have
about 15 flight hours on it," Epic CEO and co-owner Rick Schrameck told AIN
Alerts yesterday. "We'll probably have about 25 hours on the airplane before we
take it to [EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis.] later this week, where we plan to
unveil it on Monday." At the EAA AirVenture last year, Epic announced it would
show the composite, turboprop single at this year's event. Schrameck said
normal-category certification of the $1.9 million, six-seat Epic is still
planned for first quarter 2006. Before then, however, the Pratt & Whitney Canada
PT6A-powered aircraft is being offered in a kit-built form, with about 15
already sold at a price of $1.2 million each. "Customers may build their own 51
percent of the aircraft only in our facility, and we'll watch the process very
closely," Schrameck said. "This will help us learn and improve our production
process for the certified airplane." He expects the second Epic to be flying by
the end of January.