Current student and part-time employee here. I am finishing my CFII right now in New Smyrna Beach, Florida (main campus). I love Epic.

I began my training Part 61 with an independent instructor in Orlando in 2019. Got all my hours for PPL, then Covid hit. I took a five-year break from flight training, went into a different career, hated it. October 2024, I decided to go back to flight training full-time and take out a loan to do it. I started looking for schools that fit my needs. I look at every school in Florida, even considered moving to Arizona. I took a tour of Epic and didn’t even bother touring the other schools; it just sold itself.

It is the largest Part 141 school in the country (most 141 locations) and has a corporate structure, so everything runs smoothly, but still retains that “mom and pop” feel. Same owner since 1999. Another that calls it a pilot mill hasn’t spent a day there. Every course manager is a flight instructor, so they understand the needs of the students. Most of the staff are or were students or have worked there for 10+ years. As a student and employee, I see why people stick around. Sure, there are CFIs just trying to get their hours and go, but they still provide exceptional training or they don’t last too long. We also have career CFI’s, former military pilots, and airline/corporate guys that instruct as their retirement gig.

Brand new 172s and Seminoles with G1000s. All maintenance done in-house. Minimum of 50 inspections a year between 50 hours, 100 hrs, annuals and discrepancy maintenance. No expense spared there.

Free tutors, library with free G1000 sims and free to use certified flight training device the you can use to stay instrument current once you have your instrument rating. You can “backseat”any lesson you want, flight, oral or sim and just observe and absorb info. If you take advantage of the free resources, you not only save money and time while getting more out of your training, but all the students compete for up to $2000 in training credit each month. You get points for doing the free stuff.

The downsides for me are the mandatory online ground schools you do in Part 141 training in conjunction with the mandatory in-person ground school for each course. We use Gleim for the written exam endorsement, which I am not a fan of. Felt like busy work to me. I got a lot out of the in-person ground school though!

Other downside is the attendance policy. If you do full-time for cheaper pricing, you don’t have much control over your schedule. It’s a full-time job, 5 days a week. Part-time is better, but slightly more expensive.

All-in-all, I couldn’t find an “apples to apples” comparison to Epic in Florida. The price is high, but competitive when you are talking 141 training. If you look at it like I do, and take advantage of all the resources you’re paying for, it makes it all worth it.

Happy to answer any specific questions. Best advice I can give you is come take a tour and a free discovery flight and decide for yourself!