Epps Aviation

1965 Pat Epps and a Mooney M20

Reprinted and updated from T&T 2022

Becoming a household name in any field takes a mixture of fortune, planning, and hard work. In the general aviation world, the name Epps is not only ubiquitous for these qualities but is also known for a family legacy of military and civilian aviators who have excelled at services for pilots and at instilling passion in new generations of flyers.
Possibly none have encapsulated this legacy more than Georgia’s first family of aviation. That is the family of Ben T. Epps of Athens. Ben was Georgia’s first licensed pilot who designed and flew his own aircraft as far back as 1909 in his little Washington Street shop in Athens. Just a few years after the Wright brothers flew their first controlled flight at Kittyhawk, Ben’s first aircraft, powered by a 15-horsepower motorcycle engine and sitting on three bicycle wheels, took flight and flew 100 yards at around 50 feet over the hilly Athens terrain. By the time the calendar turned to 1917, it only made sense that Ben further support his burgeoning aviation industry in Georgia by starting Rolfe-Epps Flying Service, also in Athens, offering flying lessons, aerial photography, and passenger flights. But while designing and building planes and founding an industry, Mr. Epps was busy raising a family.

One of 9 children, Ben’s youngest son, Pat, born February 23, 1934, didn’t start with a silver spoon. He had to work to earn everything he accomplished. The work started early, too, especially being the youngest of 6 boys and 3 girls, all most certainly proud and competitive pilots, except 1 sister who stayed land-based. Surrounded by this incredible family, and a life filled with otherworldly memories, one of his first memories around airplanes occurred when two of his older brothers, quite comically, used him for ballast as their dad was rebuilding one of his planes. Young Pat, kicking and screaming, alerted all around to his unhappiness about the situation. Next memory: he’s sitting on his mom’s lap in a Ford Tri-Motor – the first recollection of actually flying. But amid these surreal first memories, and around the time of the Tri-Motor ride, Pat’s whole life trajectory could have been disrupted by the fatal takeoff crash his dad incurred while piloting one of his own aero creations in 1937.

Pat Epps was only 3 years old on that dreadful day at Athens Airport (KAHN), now named after the family patriarch. But luckily for us all, Pat’s mom encouraged him and his siblings to continue with their aviation aspirations. All five brothers and two sisters became pilots. And by the time he was 15, Pat was winning awards and competitions like the Southeastern Free Flight Model Sailplane Contest. He’ll tell you with a grin, though, that he was a late bloomer, not soloing until he was 18.

During high school, continuing to learn as much as he could about the inner mechanics of engines and systems, Pat took a job as an automotive maintenance technician. At the same time, he was taking flying lessons from his older brother, Doug, ultimately soloing in a Piper J-3 Cub before attending Georgia Tech. Before completing a mechanical engineering degree in 1956, he worked summers in Yakima, Washington, in a machine shop. Through Georgia Tech’s Air Force ROTC program, Pat also earned a commission as a second lieutenant, and after graduation, he went to work at Boeing as a flight test engineer on the 707 prototype program. In 1957, Pat signed on for active duty in the Air Force, earning his wings in 1958 in the Beechcraft T-34. He then transitioned to the C-97 Stratofreighter, a military variant of Boeing’s 377 Stratocruiser airliner. Pat left active duty in 1963, taking a job with his brother George in Huntsville, Alabama, and was honorably discharged from the Air Force at the rank of captain in 1965.

While in Huntsville, George and Pat answered an ad in Flying Magazine recruiting Mooney dealers. This started Pat’s long success at selling airplanes as the brothers became Mooney Aircraft Company’s newest dealers for Georgia and Alabama. Concurrently, Epps Air Service started operations with 19 employees, a hangar, and some offices at Atlanta’s DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. Shortly after, Epps expanded its maintenance capabilities and purchased Hangar 2 in November of that year. During all this, Pat was flying back and forth between Atlanta and Huntsville to support the business in both cities. The next year, the brothers purchased a competitor, Chamblee Aviation, and started their own flight school at PDK. To close out the 60s, Epps built 22 new T-hangars on newly leased land at the airport in 1969.

The seventies at PDK were eventful as well. Pat was laser-focused on serving his customers and facilitating growth in Atlanta. The beginning of the decade saw Epps start its own Part 135 charter service, and in 1979, the company opened a new customer terminal building, along with Hangar 4 and 10 additional T-hangars. Also, that year, Epps hosted the annual NBAA convention at its site. Once a Georgia-centric aviation company, Epps was beginning to be known nationally.

The 80s were all about expansion at PDK; hangars 5, 7, and 8 were built along with a new road connecting everything. It was also a decade in which Epps realized a passion for serving the needs of an underserved aviation community by offering flight training for the physically handicapped.

As new wave music transitioned to grunge in the 90s, Pat Epps was prolific in personal and professional projects. We rewind to 1981 for a moment. Pat is interested in uncovering a WWII Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft buried 265 feet beneath the ice of Greenland. He joins and eventually leads the Greenland Expedition Society (GES) in an 11-year, 7-expedition mission to uncover an aircraft from the Lost Squadron, a group consisting of 2 B-17s and 6 P-38s. The squadron had been flying for hours in some of the North Atlantic’s worst weather, and all were low on fuel. The 8 aircraft were forced to go down on an icecap in Greenland on July 15, 1942. Having known of the Lost Squadron and being spurred on by a friend looking to own a P-38, Pat Epps helped form and lead the GES with the eventual recovery of P-38 “Glacier Girl” during the summer of 1992.

Back in PDK, Epps Air Service was expanding, as was Epps’ recognition in the industry for his accomplishments:

• 1990 – Hangar 3 built
• 1991 – New turbine maintenance hangar built
• 1992 – First GPS installed by Epps Avionics
• 1993 – NBAA Convention at PDK, First EAA Young Eagles rally
• 1994 – Pat participates in the 50th anniversary of the D-Day paratrooper drop in Normandy, France
• 1995 – Epps participates in Special Olympics Airlift
• 1996 – Epps becomes a Pilatus authorized sales and service center
• 1999 – Hangar 6 built

The reader may remember from our introductory article that the 90s also included the creation of the Pinnacle Air Network, of which Epps is a founding member. Of the 10 founding companies in the Network, Epps was the only one not specifically a Beechcraft dealer; however, it continued to grow its Beech service and support business. Billy Hulse, a principal at Atlanta-based River Capital, well known in the general aviation industry as the president and CEO of the Hangar One chain of FBOs, which was later sold to Beech Aircraft (later Raytheon) in 1983, encouraged Pat Epps to help found the group of 9 dealers, and in the process, Epps became the 10th member of Pinnacle in 1994. The Pinnacle Air Network continues to this day, now comprising 19 of the most successful aviation companies in North America. Most of the original Network companies are still in existence and thriving, several of which by different names through merger and acquisition.

The 2000s have been no less active. Pat performed for large crowds with the intent of bringing enthusiasm for aviation to America’s younger generations.

• 2000 – Pat performs for EAA at Oshkosh in his ‘74
• Bonanza N8176R
• 2002 – Several large accomplishments at Epps
• Appointed Cirrus Authorized Service Center
• Formal Non-Destructive Inspection programs
• established for teardown work on P-3, S-3, C-130, and F-22 aircraft
• P-38 “Glacier Girl” returns to flight on October 22
• 2005 – Epps’ 40th anniversary
• 2007 – Pat Epps honored as the John P. “Jack”
• Doswell award winner during the NBAA
• Convention in Atlanta
• 2011 – Pat Epps honored twice:
• Harrison Ford Aviation Legacy Award winner at the 8th Annual Living Legends of Aviation event in Beverly Hills, CA
• Inducted into Georgia’s Aviation Hall of Fame in Warner Robins, GA
• 2013 – Pat Epps mourns the loss of his and his company’s biggest supporter, his wife Ann Hailey Epps
• 2015 – Epps Aviation 50th Anniversary

In 2019 and 2020, Epps Aviation hosted the Super Bowl and then gave its customer terminal building a substantial facelift. Until a couple of years ago, the business was run by Pat’s children, his daughter Elaine as president, while her sister Marian handled finances as CFO. And their continued growth through customer satisfaction is their top priority, evidenced by Epps Aviation’s accomplishment of the ARGUS platinum rating for its charter business. Most recently, though, the family took a step back and sold the business, which continues to this day.

We all love the stories of visionary people and companies who, through a unique mix of grit, smarts, and usually quite a bit of luck, come to be known as household names. But grit, smarts, and luck aren’t really an adequate summary of what it takes to become a success and lead in a field full of leaders and innovators, and visionaries. And the formula for getting there isn’t always the same. In fact, it’s usually different in every case. For Pat Epps, a man who never envisioned himself as an aviation business owner, much less one who has shaped the industry in myriad ways, the path to success was a long and winding road. Sometimes the stars align, and the coalescence of opportunity and strategy takes form and shape up to meet a unique need or offer a new way of doing something. That’s called innovation – one of those often-overused buzzwords that have taken hold in the business of aviation. An appropriate synonym for that buzzword could be “Pat Epps,” the legend who could still be found talking aviation at the FBO he founded in Atlanta, nearly up until the day he passed. The aviation world will miss Pat Epps.