Epic Flight Academy Establishes Airline Direct Program in Partnership with Southern Airways Express

Epic Flight Academy announced the Airline Direct Program, a professional pilot partnership with Southern Airways Express and Mokulele Airlines. Southern is one of the fastest-growing commuter airlines in the United States serving five footprints, including the Mid-Atlantic, Gulf, New England, California, and Hawaii. Epic’s Airline Direct Program takes students with zero flight experience directly from flight training to a paid pilot position at Southern Airways. The first class begins in April 2021, with new classes offered monthly. Epic will accept six cadets into the program each month, and the April class of cadets will be hired by Southern in January 2022.

Graduates will be hired to fly second-in-command (SIC), or co-pilot, flying at least 1,000 hours at Southern. Then, following their upgrade to captain they will fly an additional 600 hours as pilot-in-command (PIC). This is the fastest direct-to-airlines flight training available anywhere in America.

Epic Flight Academy has been training airline pilots for 22 years. The Airline Direct Program is similar to Epic’s current airline pilot training, with students training together for their private pilot, instrument rating, single-engine commercial, and multi-engine commercial. However, upon completion of these four courses, some students will continue training to become flight instructors, while up to six others can opt for the Airline Direct Program. The six candidates will start Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, which includes 100 hours of crew flying before transitioning to Southern.

Epic Chief Operating Officer Josh Rawlins is excited about the program. “This partnership with Southern Airways offers opportunities for our students to transition directly to an airline career,” Rawlins said. “With a thorough screening process and robust flight training, including our Frasca full-motion simulator and hands-on PT6 training, this program provides the fastest possible pathway to the airlines.”

Stan Little, Chairman and CEO of Southern Airways Express, echoes these sentiments. “The transition from flight school directly to second-in-command at Southern is seamless,” he said. “Epic’s training is well known to us, and the transition course they’ve created for CRM makes our incoming pilot classes even better prepared for an airline career.”