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

China is facing a chronic shortage of pilots to fly its growing fleet of business aircraft. Moderating an ABACE show seminar on crew training in Shanghai yesterday, consultant Christopher Jackson said the current backlog of orders from China indicates a need for an additional 500 to 1,000 private aviation pilots. He said operators in China typically need a ratio of five pilots per aircraft.


Quotas imposed by the Chinese government on the number of foreign pilots allowed to work in the country and restrictions as to where they can fly, along with language and culture barriers, all underline the need for a robust indigenous general-aviation pilot training program, which currently does not exist. Of the flight academies and training schools that are in operation in China, virtually all of the pilots are destined for the commercial aviation sector.


Another issue is that potential Chinese pilots who undertake their flight training in the U.S., there currently exist differences for certification and procedures between the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to Scott Jiang,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2012-02-04/cirrus-restructures-nd-debt-presses-jet">Cirrus Aircraft’s</a>&nbsp;director for China. In one instance, unlike FAA requirements CAAC requires pilots who successfully complete the training programs from providers such as Simuflite or FlightSafety International to complete an additional 50 hours of monitored in-country flights and landings before they are certified.


“We have accepted the fact that corporate aviation in China is in its infancy,” said Rich Iudice, Dassault Falcon’s director of flight operations, speaking as a group spokesman. “There are many obstacles to overcome, so that the operators here that want to operate business aircraft have the pilots available to do that.”


Among the possible solutions the group has suggested to CAAC is that the agency allows the additional flight hours to be performed on simulators as line-orientated flight training (Loft).&nbsp;“We need to convince CAAC that we are trying to help them,” said Iudice. “We’re trying to help Chinese operators get this done.”

News about simulators and training procedures, as well as workforce.

China Faces Major Pilot Shortage

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Charles Alcock

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

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

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.

Austrian manufacturer has yet to say which rotorcraft types it will support 

Axis Announces Plans for Helicopter Training Systems

AIN Staff

In a Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit (CALS) roundtable on retention, an aviation staffing expert and flight department leaders traded hard-won lessons on money, culture, and knowing who you’re really competing with.

The Retention Stool Has Four Legs: What Flight Departments Get Wrong about Keeping Talent

Across three separate CALS sessions, flight department leaders worked through the same hard questions about earning trust, leading individuals, and holding the line.

Leadership from the Cockpit to the Department: What Three Days of Roundtables Revealed

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

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.

The lack of 3D data is holding back some aspects of manufacturing 

Tapping Data to Safely Drive Up Aerospace Productivity

Matt Thurber

Draper to stay until the end of the year to smooth the transition

Rohloff New Textron Aviation CEO as Ron Draper Retires

News and issues concerning the aviation charter and fractional-ownership industries and markets, including company announcements, regulations, new developments and labor issues.

More In Training and Workforce

Axis Announces Plans for Helicopter Training Systems

Austrian manufacturer has yet to say which rotorcraft types it will support

The Retention Stool Has Four Legs: What Flight Departments Get Wrong about Keeping Talent

In a Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit (CALS) roundtable on retention, an aviation staffing expert and flight department leaders traded hard-won lessons on money, culture, and knowing who you’re really competing with.

Leadership from the Cockpit to the Department: What Three Days of Roundtables Revealed

Across three separate CALS sessions, flight department leaders worked through the same hard questions about earning trust, leading individuals, and holding the line.

Tapping Data to Safely Drive Up Aerospace Productivity

The lack of 3D data is holding back some aspects of manufacturing

Rohloff New Textron Aviation CEO as Ron Draper Retires

Draper to stay until the end of the year to smooth the transition

Air Charter Association Expands NextGen Group

Saxon Air executive Rachel Harvey chairs the group for young charter professionals

AINsight: Your Team Is Always Recruiting

Building recruiting reputations for your company long before a job is posted

Kawasaki To Deploy 1st Asia-Pac Loft H145 VR Simulator

Virtual-reality device allows pilots and crew to practice realistic emergency scenarios

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