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

Bell has reached a milestone in sustainability, logging more than 700 flight hours burning blended sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on one of its light-single Bell 505 helicopters.&nbsp;In 2021, the rotorcraft manufacturer stated it would incorporate the use of <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2021-03-29/bell-fly-sustainable-aviation-fuel">SAF</a> in its demonstration fleet and at its helicopter training academy.
A year later, Bell announced a partnership with Safran Helicopter Engines to explore technical performance and economic impacts of SAF on the Safran Arrius 2R-powered Model 505. The 505 made its <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-02-22/bell-flies-505-100-sustainable-aviation-fuel">first flight</a> on unblended, 100% SAF in early 2023, making it the first single-engine helicopter to do so.
“We are particularly pleased with these SAF flights in partnership with Bell,” said Jean-François Sauer, executive v-p of programs with Safran Helicopter Engines, adding SAF is key to more sustainable helicopter use.
SAF is currently approved for commercial use in blends of up to 50% with jet-A. “Very soon, our engines will be capable of 100% drop-in SAF, paving the way for wider use of this type of fuel for increased sustainability of helicopter operations,” Sauer noted.

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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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