A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;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&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;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&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;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.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Parker Aerospace has signed an agreement with Phyre Technologies to further develop a catalytic inerting system for improved aircraft fuel tank safety. The concept looks to take the technology beyond current applications in which inert nitrogen is generated by pressurizing air separation modules with engine-generated bleed air. 
Using Phyre’s patented processes for catalytic inerting, ullage air and fuel vapors are pulled from the tank and passed through a catalyst, producing inert oxygen-depleted air (ODA). The inert ODA is then cooled and dried before being reintroduced to the fuel tank to inert the unoccupied space. 
“Bleeding engines to supply a conventional ASM-based inerting system can be particularly burdensome for aircraft powered by engines that have little or no bleed air available, such as turboshafts (helicopters), small turbofans (business jets and UAVs) and turboprops,” said Bryan Jenson, Parker’s principle engineer for fuel tank inerting. “Catalytic inerting holds the promise of generating inert gas on board the aircraft with a system that does not require a source of high-pressure air.”
This new process, which is considered “green” because the system minimizes unburned hydrocarbons vented into the atmosphere, follows on Phyre’s research, which has resulted in successful demonstrations of the company’s on-board inert gas generation system (Green OBIGGS) on military applications. 
Parker (Hall 4 Stand E50) has also unveiled a new family of customizable cooling pumps featuring a common core of basic motor and pump components. Compatible with a variety of dielectric and heat transfer fluids, the pumps are available in both AC and DC configurations with fixed or variable speed versions to accommodate a variety of flow rates. Additionally, the pump package incorporates a wet-motor design that allows the fluid to extract heat from the electronics or the sensor suite, while simultaneously removing heat from the pump motor itself, useful according to the manufacturer, in situations that require low convective or conductive heat dissipation within enclosed areas.
On the eve of the Farnborough show, the company announced that it has been selected by Rolls-Royce to support development of the Trent 7000 engine for the Airbus A330neo. Parker will supply the main engine-oil pumps and tanks, the fuel nozzles and manifolds as well as pneumatic control devices. 
In anticipation of this year’s possible first flight of China’s Comac C919 jetliner, Parker was the first supplier on the project to have completed full endurance spectrum testing on the more than 60 types of components it will be supplying for the delayed program. The tests demonstrate the components can deliver operational performance as specified for the life of the airplane. The Parker Hannifin subsidiary is providing all three independent hydraulic systems, primary flight control systems (including the horizontal tail trim system); fuel gauging and management system; fuel-tank inerting system; and landing gear.
To support the Comac affiliation, the Parker has established two Chinese joint-ventures. The first is with the AVIC Jincheng Nanjing Engineering Institute of Aircraft Systems (NEIAS), known as NEIAS Parker Aero Systems Equipment (NPASE), it was founded to provide engineering, manufacturing, assembly and testing for fuel supply and management, fuel tank inerting, hydraulic power products and service as well as final assembly and tests for the C919 and other Chinese domestic aircraft projects such as the MA700.
Parker recently announced that the other joint venture has begun operations after achieving Part 145 certifications from Chinese and U.S. authorities. The partnership is with Avic Flight Automatic Control Research Institute (FACRI), and is called Parker FACRI Actuation Systems. It will also provide engineering support, final assembly and testing for the project as well as support for flight control, hydraulic, fuel and inerting equipment produced by Parker and other manufacturers, from its location at Xi’an, China.
This week, the company is announcing the launch of its new customer care initiative, consisting of a centralized global customer response center (CRC) in Irvine, California, which will support all commercial and airline customers, and five warehouse and parts distribution centers strategically located around world.

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

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Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

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News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

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News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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