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.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

On Monday, in what Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne described as a “special and meaningful mission,” a C-17 Globemaster III heavy airlift airplane touched down at McGuire AFB in New Jersey, completing the type’s first transcontinental flight using a synthetic fuel blend. Described by its pilots as “unremarkable,” the flight (which carried an AIN editor on its final leg from McGuire to Andrews AFB) is a crucial step in the Air Force’s plan to certify its entire fleet on synthetic fuel by 2011. The C-17 carries 80 percent of the Air Force cargo requirements and uses the same engines as some Boeing 757s, meaning the FAA’s Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative is keeping a close eye on the testing. According to Wynne, the synthetic blend burns more efficiently and more cleanly than standard jet fuel and could pay dividends by reducing the amount of engine maintenance required. Plans call for domestic production of the fuel to begin by 2012. The Air Force–the U.S. government’s largest fuel consumer–is hoping to lock in a long-term supply contract.

USAF C-17 Flies Using Synthetic Fuel Blend

On Monday, in what Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne described as a “special and meaningful mission,” a C-17 Globemaster III heavy airlift airplane touched

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