Epic Aircraft will expand to Canada

A top official with Epic Aircraft wants to make one point clear: The airplane manufacturer is not leaving Bend.

"We have an $8-million building here," said Rick Schrameck, CEO of Las Vegas-based Aircraft Investor Resources LLC, Epic's parent company. "We have trained people here, and we're not going anywhere."

Schrameck's statement Friday comes as Epic announced its plans to open a new manufacturing, research and development facility in Canada to build certified aircraft. The company originally planned to build the new plant alongside Epic's current building at Bend Municipal Airport or at another Central Oregon site.

But the Federal Aviation Administration's backlog in certifying aircraft and manufacturing facilities, combined with the region's lack of skilled labor, doomed those plans, Schrameck said.

Epic now plans to build the facility in Calgary, Alberta, taking with it up to 400 potential jobs, which represents a significant lost opportunity for Central Oregon's burgeoning aviation industry. Epic has no plans to reduce its Bend work force of 130 to 140 employees. The company makes its kit planes, the LT, at the Bend facility.

"The Federal Aviation Administration, with its shrinking resources, is being swamped by increasing demand for (aircraft) certification," Schrameck said. "Here in the states, nothing can get done. And time is money, so it's prudent for us to get up there (to Canada)."

Epic's planned facility, which will house the manufacturing of the firm's future line of certified aircraft, will provide that city with anywhere from 100 to 400 new jobs when it opens toward the middle of next year.

The aircraft manufacturer can begin construction as early as next spring in Canada, Schrameck said, because that country's transportation authority can simultaneously certify both the facility plans and the aircraft Epic is planning to build there.

Aircrafts are certified up to global standards, so an aircraft certified in Canada would be eligible to fly in the United States.

In the U.S., certification for the Epic aircraft would have to be completed before the plans for a manufacturing facility could be certified. Add the long lines of other aviation companies seeking certification for their own products and it could be years before a Bend facility would have been approved for the certified aircraft, Schrameck said.

"You can build a production facility before receiving certification, but that's taking a (heck) of a risk," he said, noting that a company would be stuck with a useless building if certification fell through.

He also noted that the Canadian province of Alberta, where Calgary is located, is scheduled to build a $15 million certification center that would become a one-stop shop for certifying all aspects of an aircraft, such as body integrity and airworthiness.

With the facilities for testing those different aspects splintered around the United States, Epic would have had to take its aircraft to multiple locations for certification, or would have needed to purchase expensive equipment to do the testing itself.

Epic officials expect certification to be granted in 2008 for the company's Dynasty turboprop and in 2009 for its light jet.

The firm's Bend facility will continue to build Epic's experimental-class aircraft, the LT, and the company is adding six jobs a month at that location, according to officials.

But Schrameck said there is obvious frustration with the lack of skilled labor in Central Oregon, which makes it difficult for the company to fill those positions, let alone open new factories.

"The people here with aircraft experience either work for (neighboring) Columbia (Aircraft Manufacturing Corp.) or already work for us," he said.

Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon, said Epic officials informed him six months ago that the new facility wouldn't be built in Bend.

The experience is especially frustrating, Lee said, because part of the problem -- a lack of resources at the FAA to deal with the large amount of demand -- is out of local officials' control.

"A lot of jobs left the city (with Epic's decision) because the federal agency isn't able to respond to demand," Lee said. "It's a frustration, but we're not alone. The FAA is sharing its bottleneck across the country."

Greg Phillips, Bend Municipal Airport manager, is more optimistic.

"This is actually great news for us and Epic Air," Phillips said, noting that the company's new Canadian link may allow local aviation companies that deal with Epic to tap into new markets. "(Epic is) broadening their business base, and if their business is strong on all sides, that'll be good for everyone."

EDCO's Lee said the goal now is to keep Epic's local operations growing. Resolving the labor problem will be key.

"I think part of the solution has to be in the school system," he said, noting the region's need for a more consistent producer of educated labor.

"It's an issue facing the entire region and country, and hopefully, a creative solution can be achieved."