Tucson is home to a new flight school that got its start over two decades ago in Florida.
Epic Flight Academy, which began training pilots locally last month at its Tucson International Airport location, held its grand opening Friday.
Tucson is Epic’s fourth location. Its main campus is in Florida, where it also operates an aircraft mechanic school.
Epic employs more than 180 people at its combined locations.
The Tucson location is strictly flight operations.
While the majority of the academy’s students are brand new pilots who start with zero training, there are also pilots who seek out other ratings, such as instrument or commercial, an official said.
Tucson’s climate and access to various classes of airspace drew Epic to expand to the area, the company said.
According to the company’s website, Epic has trained thousands of pilots who fly for more than 300 airlines. A student with zero experience can become an airline pilot in two years — a year to train and a year to build time as a flight instructor, the company says.
Financing is available, and Epic says it has a high first-time pass rate. Students train in brand new aircraft — the Cessna 172 with G1000 glass cockpit.
The cost of tuition to become a domestic airline pilot, starting with no experience, is nearly $86,000.
Established in 1999, Epic Flight Academy opened its doors as Epic Aviation, its website says. Initially, it offered both FAA pilot training and FBO services. However, in 2002, it shifted the focus solely to flight training.
At the grand opening event, the public was invited to tour the facility — located inside the Million Air building ‚ to take a discovery flight, meet flight instructors and other pilots and check out an Embraer ERJ-145 jet.
Learn more about Epic at epicflightacademy.com.
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