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

Continuing its practice of using aviation industry experts to help create focused online instructional programs, global business aviation safety training provider TrainingPort.net (Booth No. C10836) yesterday announced it has reached several agreements to expand its flight department management training offerings. 
Founded in 2005, the company is a source for customized industry training on more than 60 topics, developed in conjunction with subject matter experts and delivered via 15-minute lessons focusing on regulatory and currency requirements. According to TrainingPort.net founder and president Scott Macpherson, finding initial training is easy but locating comprehensive and up-to-date recurrent training is not. So he developed the company to address that issue, which he discovered while a member of a corporate flight department.
The company has joined forces with ServiceElements International to produce comprehensive online lessons on organizational resource management (ORM), which is closely related to crew resource management and maintenance resource management. It is designed to help optimize a flight operation’s existing resources and improve the value of services for aircraft operations. Starting in January, ORM training will be available as part of the company’s subscription program or as a stand-alone training module.
The company has also announced the results of a partnership with Crew Resource Management LLC, which has resulted in the debut of two programs. A maintenance resource management program was developed in anticipation of industry needs and the increasing focus by government regulators on human factors training. The program includes hot-button topics recommended by agencies such as the FAA, Transport Canada and EASA, including workload management, professionalism and communication. A single pilot resource management (SRM) course, which was created for fixed- and rotary-wing business aviation pilots, includes sections on risk and workload management as well as automation. It was developed by Robert Wright, a CRM team member and president of Wright Aviation Solutions. “In my years with the FAA, and as an aviation consultant, it is clear that scores of light business aircraft accidents could have been prevented had adequate risk management assessment and mitigation been exercised,” said Wright. “We have created a thorough and extensive risk management curriculum with the light business aircraft pilot in mind.
In response to the dearth of in-depth radar training available to the business aviation community, TrainingPort.net has released a stand-alone online airborne weather radar program in cooperation with Radar Training International (RTI). The program’s features make the experience as close to hands-on as possible and, as part of a subscription package, the training provider offers an introductory program that reviews the basics of airborne weather radar.
Finally, the company has formed a strategic alliance with Swiss-based aviation consulting company AeroEx, which will act as TrainingPort.net’s European sales representative. AeroEx will also support business aircraft operators with EASA regulation compliance, particularly with regard to the upcoming rules on Part 135 third-country operators (TCO), which are expected to be published early next year, starting a six-month application window for TCO authorizations. “The purpose of working together is to support European business aircraft operators, providing a complete, customized service,” said TrainingPort.net’s Scott Macpherson, “This alliance links AeroEx’s regional EASA rulemaking and technical expertise with TrainingPort.net’s up-to-date online training content and system and business aviation experience.”

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

TrainingPort Announces Agreements at NBAA

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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