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Owner’s
Not a Jet; Still Epic
Corner
“The Epic E1000 GX is a fantas- tic airplane. Probably one of the funniest things about it is that most air traffic controllers refer to me as ‘Epic jet.’ It happened just this weekend out of Riverside (KRAL), where ATC was calling another plane and was referring to me as that ‘Epic jet.’ It’s common, but I’m not sure if it’s because they are unfamiliar with the plane since it’s relatively new or because of the speeds that I am go- ing,” wondered Aaron VanTrojen, who has owned the six-place single- engine turboprop for a little over a
year and a half.
“This can also cause controllers a little disruption when I’m com- ing into terminal areas because we slow down. They see our speeds at altitude, and when we start coming down on approaches, we slow down significantly, much slower than a jet does. Most controllers do not expect us to get so slow as quickly as we do. So now, when I begin a descent into Puerto Vallarta (MMPR), for example, I tell them what my speeds are planned to be in the terminal area. It’s a benefit not to have to come shooting through an approach at over 200 knots; we can come in nice and slow.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AARON VANTROJEN
This aspect is just one of the many that VanTrojen enjoys about his Epic E1000 GX. The Epic is the third aircraft that the founder and CEO of Geneva Financial has owned. The mortgage industry executive’s in- cremental aircraft ownership journey has consistently allowed him to fly faster, higher, and with more payload.
“It started in 2019 when I was tran- sitioning from a Cirrus SR22T. We had a deposit on a new Vision Jet, which I had test flown and loved. It was an easy transition from what I was fly- ing, but I didn’t fully understand the
April 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 27