From Broadcast Journalism to a Dream Career in Aviation Reporting
Q and A by Brad Vincent with Curt Epstein, a Senior Editor with Aviation International News.
After working in broadcast journalist as a national science and technology reporter, with stints in local television and CRTV (Consumer Reports Television) life long aviation enthusiast Curt Epstein took a leap of faith by transitioning into the aviation industry as an aviation finance and sustainable aviation reporter, joining Aviation International News in 2007.
Currently residing in New York with his wife and two children, Epstein holds the title of senior editor at AIN. He has won several awards, including the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Award, the National Air Transportation Association Journalist Award, and the Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award, to name a few.
What got you into international news, specifically in aviation?
Well, I had a long road getting here. I have a background in broadcast journalism, and I have always had an interest in aviation. I used to do science and technology reporting for the networks, and I have been through a couple of positions there in the broadcast world and publishing world, and I saw a position available at AIN, which, at the time, I thought I could combine both of my areas along with my love of aviation.
What sparked your love of aviation?
I was always a fan of military history, and kind of morphed into basically all kinds of aircraft.
Could you tell me about some of the stories you have worked on in the last five years, some of the bigger ones?
Well, it goes back more than five years with my immediate transition into AI. I was working as a producer at a television station out on Long Island in New York, and this was the time when there was a mid-air collision in Brazil over the Amazon between a Legacy 600 and a Boeing 737 in which the business jet survived with damage but was able to land at a restricted military base in the Amazon, whereas the unfortunate jetliner crashed killing over 100 people. Now this aircraft at the time was on its way to a Long Island operator, and obviously, being on Long Island, this was a major story, so I was well involved in this and understood it when I was interviewing with AIN. The fact I was able to speak knowledgeably about this and in great detail obviously impressed them.
I remember hearing about that story, that was catastrophic…
It was, and as it turns out, there was actually one of the AIN contributors that was on that flight. He was taking a flight back, and he was doing an article on it, and he was on that flight; it turns out that in my tenure with AIN, I have also spoken to two others who knew people on that flight.
So there is a personal connection as well.
Little bit, and also I was interested then, so I tracked the airplane down, and it was eventually turned back to the owners, and they sold it, and the aircraft was refurbished and flown back, and it’s now in service still somewhere in the world.
How does that make you feel that the aircraft is back in service?
Well, I would have to say that it is one hell of a well-built airplane to survive that. I don’t know if I would necessarily want to be the one buying it and flying it and flying on it knowing its history, but it was in good enough condition that the insurance company wasn’t going to write it off, apparently, so I don’t know it’s still out there and still earning revenue.
Is there anything you want to say about reporting internationally, specifically around aviation, or to anyone interested in that realm, how they can get going?
Well, if you want to report, obviously, you have to get yourself somehow into an organization that does this. There are a couple of publications out there. AIN just celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and there are some publications that are almost twice that age. So you have to get yourself there. If you want to write, you have to be able to write. You have to be able to show that you can write. Once you are there, usually these magazines, or I should say publications since the magazine term might not be much longer with the shift into the digital realm, but once you can show mastery or enthusiasm for a subject, you can find yourself carving out a niche
