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

Accidental fire foam discharge claimed another victim when a fire-suppression system was inadvertently activated on October 28 in a city-owned hangar at Dallas-area McKinney National Airport.
<a href="https://twitter.com/aviationbrk/status/1725583309420236960?s=43&amp;t=Y2oudWB6w9DItdPRKRP9og">Video of the incident</a>—from a privately owned security camera feed in the hangar, according to a McKinney spokesperson—was posted on X (formerly Twitter). It shows a large hangar—containing what appears to be a Bombardier Challenger 300, Cessna Citation X, IAI Westwind 2, Diamond DA42 piston twin, and an unidentifiable piston single—rapidly filling with foam. The airport could not provide confirmation of the aircraft involved.
In a statement released to AIN, the city of McKinney acknowledged that “on Oct. 28, the fire-suppression system in a hangar at the McKinney National Airport was activated. An ongoing investigation is underway to determine the nature and extent of the foam release, as well as the cause of the activation. No injuries have been reported. Several of the affected aircraft are back in service. The restoration of the hangar is underway.”
Accidental foam discharges have been a <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-06-10/hangar-foam-solution-looking-problem">serious problem</a> for hangar keepers, causing millions of dollars in aircraft damage, foam clean-up, and subsequent system maintenance. In 2021, the NFPA, the governing body that establishes fire safety policy guidance, voted to <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2021-11-01/nfpa-removes-bizav-hangar-foam-requirement">remove the hangar foam recommendation</a> for Group II hangars (including most used for business aviation), leaving the final determination in the hands of local fire marshals.

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

Accidental Fire Foam Discharge Strikes Another Business Aircraft Hangar

Several jets and piston aircraft exposed to corrosive fire-suppression foam

Accidental fire foam discharge claimed another victim when a fire-suppression system was inadvertently activated late last month in a city-owned hangar at a Dallas-area airport.

Accidental Hangar Foam Discharge Strikes Again

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.

Altitude and course deviation, traffic proximity remain top categories

ACSF Data Shows Stable Bizav Risk Amid 2026 Pressures

Kerry Lynch

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.

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.

Aircraft remained within separation guidance but neared each other after the presidential helicopter was unable to alert ATC

Faulty Comms Preceded Marine One/Envoy Close Call

Graham leaving agency within months of confirmation to another term

NTSB Vice Chair Michael Graham To Retire October 2

Stuart “Kipp” Lau

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.

UK CAA concerned over rise in unstable approaches continuing to land

AINsight: Go-arounds Are a Normal and Expected Outcome

News about significant aircraft accidents and information from accident reports.

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

Helicopters more than twice as vulnerable to loss of visual reference accidents than airplanes

TSB: Rotorcraft More Prone To Loss-of-visual-reference Accidents

Charlotte Bailey

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.

More In Safety

ACSF Data Shows Stable Bizav Risk Amid 2026 Pressures

Altitude and course deviation, traffic proximity remain top categories

Faulty Comms Preceded Marine One/Envoy Close Call

Aircraft remained within separation guidance but neared each other after the presidential helicopter was unable to alert ATC

NTSB Vice Chair Michael Graham To Retire October 2

Graham leaving agency within months of confirmation to another term

AINsight: Go-arounds Are a Normal and Expected Outcome

UK CAA concerned over rise in unstable approaches continuing to land

TSB: Rotorcraft More Prone To Loss-of-visual-reference Accidents

Helicopters more than twice as vulnerable to loss of visual reference accidents than airplanes

EASA: Atmospheric Icing Insufficiently Understood

European air safety agency calls for more comprehensive studies into phenomenon

Embry-Riddle Introduces ‘Safer Skies’ Video Podcasts

First episode features three-time space shuttle veteranJanet Kavandi

Li-ion Thermal Runaways on the Rise in Aircraft Cabins

Numbers are rising and the risk of a serious incident is increasing

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN