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

Safety equipment designer Klatt Works is making its debut at this year’s NBAA-BACE with its Smoke Assured Vision Enhanced Display (SAVED) full-face oxygen mask with integrated head-up display (HUD).
At the show in Las Vegas, the Pleasanton, California company announced the start of its first business aviation supplemental type certificate (STC) for the system, which will see its installation in BLM Aviation’s Gulfstream G550 and pave the way for integration in both the G550 and G450 models. The company has already secured an STC for its use in the Boeing 777 commercial jetliner.
The lightweight, wearable, reusable system provides pilots with an augmented reality technology system that delivers information to display screens inside the mask for use during cockpit smoke emergencies when pilots cannot see the flight instruments or even the view outside the cockpit windows.
SAVED provides HUD vision relayed from a nose-mounted camera, allowing the crew to aviate during extreme smoke emergencies with visual references to land or ditch the aircraft. It can receive video in SDI or NTSC format through dual 720p, 4:3 biocular see-through displays, with adjustable brightness for day or night operation, and is usable with corrective lenses. Power is provided via dual redundant left and right cockpit buses.
The company has established a full end-to-end value chain for the product. Ametek Ameron will integrate the SAVED system into the standard two-piece MF-20 pilot masks and offer ongoing maintenance and service based on customer requirements. For the certification, L2 Aviation will take the lead in the application process and handle the production of the SAVED kits, while EFI will support the initial installation on the G550 as well as perform future installations.
The certification plan was submitted to the FAA and the companies anticipate receiving STC approval by February 2025.

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