Trouble at EPIC Aircraft!!

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GhostRider in the Sky
I get weekly Aviation International News email updates, and this was one of the headlines:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Epic Doors Closed as Founder Disappears
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Epic Aircraft’s facility in Bend, Ore., has been locked shut and company founder, chairman and CEO Rick Schrameck seems to have disappeared. Epic usually has a large presence at the annual EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis., but this year there was just one Epic LT single-engine turboprop on display without any company banners or signs. Rich Lucibella, an Epic LT kit buyer and builder who filed a lawsuit against Epic over failure to deliver the engine for his kit, has been monitoring the situation at Epic. According to Lucibella, “There are roughly 12 aircraft sitting at Epic unfinished. The owners [of those kits] are working with the company to [find] a solution that keeps Epic going, which may include investment from outside sources.” Meanwhile, asked whether the FAA is investigating questions about how much assistance Epic provides to Epic LT builders, an FAA spokesman responded: “All we can say is we are aware of the situation, and we are investigating.” No further details were available. No one is answering the telephone at Epic headquarters, and many employees’ voice mailboxes are full and unable to take messages.[/FONT]
 
Because cool airplanes cost money, but the companies that sell/make cool airplanes attract buyers by WAY underpricing (epic) or skimping on safety/quality (Eclipse).
 
I used to work across from their place. Saw them do many flybys while working out there. It truly sucks for the community, first Cessna/Columbia shut down, and now Epic. Both were big employers.
 
EPIC fail.

HAHA, but sucks in this context.

Yeah Bend, OR is really taking it in the rear. Yeah they do make cool planes, but I never thought they'd make it to certification on the models they are trying to cert.

And someone just mentioned that they WAY under price them. I'll agree with that. I read in an article that someone interviewing a higher-up at Beech was kinda giving them a hard time about the Baron G58 costing $1.2 Million and they asked him why it costs so much for a piston-twin... his reply: "We've been doing this for a long time, and we know what it takes to build and support an airframe!" SNAP!
 
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