Curt Epstein
Senior Editor
A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined AIN in 2007, Curt came to the publication from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to AIN sister publication Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.
Latest from Curt Epstein
Aircraft
A380 inaugurates U.S. service in New York with Emirates
Heralding a new generation in passenger travel to the U.S., Emirates Airline’s first Airbus A380 arrived at New York’s JFK International Airport at approxi
California wildfires stretch aerial firefighting resources
With the recent wildfires in Northern California reaching historic proportions, the human toll rose as a helicopter ferrying an 11-member firefighting crew
Accidents
Faulty oxygen cylinder considered in 747 fuselage rupture and emergency landing
Accident investigators are eyeing the failure of an oxygen cylinder as the cause of an explosion that forced an emergency landing for a Qantas Boeing 747-4
Aircraft
EF-18G Growler Readying for Fleet Duty
Ahead of schedule and under budget, Boeing delivered the first of an expected 85 operational models of its EF-18G Growler to the U.S.
Safety
Jet safety stays level while turboprops plummet
The first half of the year saw the number of business jet accidents remain the same as during the first half of last year, while the turboprop segment saw
Aircraft
Boeing’s P-8 gets its wings
With the attachment of its wings and the hanging of the engines last month, Boeing’s first P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft is right on schedule and c
Safety
Bizjet Accident Rate Stable, Turboprop Mishaps Up
Business jet accidents in the first six months of this year remained the same as during the first half of last year, while the turboprop segment saw a sign
Younger Beaudoin takes Bombardier reins
Pierre Beaudoin’s reign as Bombardier president and CEO began on June 4.
Aircraft
Boeing’s Hummingbird UAV demonstrates endurance
Boeing’s A-160T Hummingbird rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recently claimed an unofficial world’s record for its weight class by staying aloft for mor
Boeing looks to leverage C-130 AMP contract
Off the back of its 2001 contract to modernize the U.S.
Aircraft
Plenty of life still left in fourth-generation Eagle
Boeing’s F-15 Eagle has racked up an enviable 104-0 combat record, as one of the world’s top-flight air-superiority and air-to-ground assault fighters.
People in Aviation: June 2008
Gulfstream Aerospace appointed Larry Flynn senior vice president for marketing and sales.
Training and Workforce
Pilot shortage ahead, IATA plans to bolster numbers
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is taking steps to address the looming pilot and mechanic shortage facing airlines globally.
Cabin Interior and Electronics
Unwilling to wait for new jets, buyers opt for CRJ conversions
With the backlog for new business jets extending years into the future in some cases, and with used large-cabin aircraft prices soaring, several enterprise
Rotorcraft
AINtv: Los Angeles County Fire Department
Winners of this year’s Sikorsky Award for Humanitarian Service talk to Curt Epstein about the past, present and future of helicopter use in firefighting.
People in Aviation: May 2008
United Technologies president Louis Chenevert has been elected CEO by the company’s board of directors.
Avionics
SuperAWOS on the rise
While automated weather observing systems (AWOS) have been a fixture at airports for many years, what some feel is the next generation of the technology ha
Changes at top for Bombardier
Bombardier has named Guy Hachey president and COO of its aerospace division, following Pierre Beaudoin’s promotion to president and COO of Bombardier Inc.
Aircraft
Embraer Rolls out First Phenom 300
Ten months after Embraer rolled out its Phenom 100 VLJ, its larger stablemate made its debut at the company’s Gavião Peixoto plant in Brazil.
Charter & Fractional
Operator gives helo fractional a ‘Whirl’
With the successes of the fractional model for business jet ownership, it was perhaps only a matter of time before a national fractional helicopter operati
Charter & Fractional
New Web site merges aviation worlds
For most people, private and commercial aviation are separate experiences and are seldom combined within the same itinerary.
Safety
Arinc offers radiation monitoring
Flight services provider Arinc has added an automatic radiation calculating feature to its Arinc Direct flight solution package.
Charter & Fractional
NetJets Staying Put, Expanding in Ohio
Speaking yesterday at the fractional provider’s Port Columbus (Ohio) Airport operations center, NetJets CEO Richard Santulli ended months of speculation by
Adventures in Flying
For more than 38 years, AIN contributor Jack Elliott, an award-winning journalist and member of the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame, chronicled avi
US Helicopter succeeding where others have failed
Imagine you’re a business traveler running late after a meeting in downtown Manhattan.
Igor I. Sikorsky Award: LACFD
This year’s Igor Sikorsky Humanitarian Award goes not to an individual, but to an organization that celebrated a special milestone last year.
Promoting free trade, Bush, Schwarzenegger tour Robinson factory
While Robinson Helicopter has had many visitors to its plant in the company’s 35-year history, certainly none were more noteworthy than President George W.
Charter & Fractional
The Air Group joins Sentient Jet stable
Sentient Jet Holdings has continued its pattern of aggressive growth with the purchase of Van Nuys, Calif.-based The Air Group.
FBOs
Military expands testing of synthetic aviation fuels
The December nonstop coast-to-coast flight of an Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III using a synthetic fuel blend, the first for the type, is the latest
Accidents
Fewer accidents, more fatalities in 2007
While the total number of accidents involving business jets and turboprops was down in 2007 compared with the previous year, the accidents were more costly
