Bend’s Epic Aircraft growing, hiring 2-dozen-plus

Epic Aircraft, LLC the Bend-based manufacturer of high-performance, carbon fiber, single-engine turboprop aircraft, announced Friday it plans to hire “over two dozen” new employees in coming weeks to support FAA certification of its Epic E1000 model by mid-2015.

“We want to recruit talented, experienced, motivated individuals who are looking for an aviation career – not just a job,” said Doug King, Epic CEO in a news release. “This is a company-wide effort to address staffing needs across multiple departments, including manufacturing, design, engineering, purchasing, quality assurance, and administration.”

Here’s the rest of the announcement:

Epic will launch this hiring initiative by hosting a Career Information Day on Saturday, February 8th, from 10 am until 1 pm.

Qualified candidates are invited to attend and advised to bring along a resume and cover letter describing why they have the ‘right stuff’ for a career at Epic.

“We are seeking aviation-experienced individuals locally and nationally to support our certification efforts,” says King. “This is an exciting new era for our company. We have proven technology that is going to shake up the aviation industry and the financial resources to deliver it to the marketplace.”

The soon-to-be-certified aircraft, known as the Epic E1000, will set a new standard in the industry as the fastest, highest performing, most affordable, six-place single-engine turboprop in the world. Reservations for the E1000 are currently being taken at a special introductory price of $2,750,000. Initial aircraft deliveries are targeted for second half 2015.

The announcement on the company’s Website lists more than 20 job categories the hiring efforts will focus on, from assembly and avionics to tooling and welding.

The Epic Aircraft Career Information Day will be held at 22550 Nelson Road in Bend, site of the former Lancair/Columbia/Cessna factory building, which was purchased by Epic in late 2012.

The company was brought out of bankruptcy, then acquired by new Russian owners in 2012. It now has about 90 employees “and climbing,” says spokesman Mike Schrader.

For more information, visit the company website at www.epicaircraft.com.