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

Cessna 525, West Gardiner, Maine, Feb. 1, 2008–N102PT, registered to Symons Jeanette Trustee, was destroyed and the pilot and single passenger were killed when the CJ crashed soon after takeoff from Augusta State Airport (AUG). IMC prevailed at the time of the accident and an IFR flight plan had been filed for the Part 91 flight to Lincoln Airport in Nebraska. Employees of the FBO stated that at the pilot’s request the airplane was fueled the morning of the accident and moved from the ramp into the FBO’s hangar, which is also used by an airline based at the airport. 
When the airline’s late-afternoon flight was canceled due to weather conditions, the Cessna was taken out of the hangar around 4 p.m. and moved back to the ramp area to allow for the airline’s airplane to be put back into the hangar. According to witnesses, the pilot and passenger arrived at the airport at about 5:15 p.m. and quickly boarded the airplane. The 45-year-old private pilot declined to have the airplane de-iced. At about 5:30 p.m., the airplane’s engines were heard starting and soon afterward the twinjet was seen taxiing. 
An FBO employee noticed the airplane was not on the taxiway as it taxied, but rather on the grass area on the south side of the asphalt taxiway, which at the time was covered with snow and ice. The employee noted that conditions had turned from light snow to freezing rain, and ice was seen covering the cars in the parking lot. At 5:44 p.m., the pilot, who listed 2,800 hours of flight experience, radioed departure control, and reported climbing out of one thousand feet, heading for 10,000. Two minutes later she declared an emergency, reporting, “We’ve got an attitude indicator failure.” At 5:47 p.m., the pilot said she wasn’t sure which way she was turning. The transmission abruptly cut off, and at about the same time radar contact was lost. Radar tracking showed the airplane departing Runway 17 at AUG and entering a climbing right turn to a track of about 260 degrees. It maintained that track, while accelerating as it climbed for 38 seconds before the pilot declared an emergency. At that moment, the radar depicted the airplane at 3,500 feet and 267 knots. At the time of the pilot’s next transmission 13 seconds later, radar data depicted the airplane in a tight left rapidly descending turn, which continued until radar contact was lost. The wreckage was found approximately six miles from the airport.

News about significant aircraft accidents and information from accident reports.

Icing eyed in fatal CJ crash

Cessna 525, West Gardiner, Maine, Feb.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Amy Wilder

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Pilot died of cardiac arrest during the flight

NTSB: Pax Safely Lands King Air after Pilot Collapsed

Vehicle also struck parked ground-support tractor; there were no injuries

Teen Driver Breaches Fence, Hits PlaneSense PC-12 at KPSM

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

Six fatal accidents resulted in 22 fatalities in the quarter

NBAA Report Flags Powerplant, Collision Risks in Q2 Data

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Twenty years ago, a business jet and commerical airliner collided; the smaller airplane survived

Remembering a Solemn Anniversary: the Amazon Midair 

David Jack Kenny

Preliminary and final accident reports, September 2026

Business Aircraft Accident Reports: September 2026

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

More In Accidents

NTSB: Pax Safely Lands King Air after Pilot Collapsed

Pilot died of cardiac arrest during the flight

Teen Driver Breaches Fence, Hits PlaneSense PC-12 at KPSM

Vehicle also struck parked ground-support tractor; there were no injuries

NBAA Report Flags Powerplant, Collision Risks in Q2 Data

Six fatal accidents resulted in 22 fatalities in the quarter

Remembering a Solemn Anniversary: the Amazon Midair

Twenty years ago, a business jet and commerical airliner collided; the smaller airplane survived

Business Aircraft Accident Reports: September 2026

Preliminary and final accident reports, September 2026

NTSB Cites Heliport Misidentification in Aug. 2025 Crash

Captain opted out of instrument approach over autopilot concerns

Fire of Unknown Origin Led to 2024 Citation X Accident

NTSB: Ignition source could not be conclusively identified

NTSB: Bell 206L Damage Caused by Aeroelastic Interaction

Helicopter experienced a vertical hop for which the pilot didn’t know the recovery procedure

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN