Duncan Aviation said its network of MRO facilities, satellite shops, and 24/7 parts distribution channels is ready to provide immediate, onsite technical support for aircraft operators flying in for the FIFA World Cup, which starts this month in 16 cities across North America.

The Nebraska-based company has a strategic footprint covering all 11 U.S. host cities with a distributed support model intended to mitigate operational strain, tight scheduling windows, and the potential unscheduled maintenance events operators may face throughout the month-long tournament.

With major host city airports expected to adopt operational limits during the tournament, many operators are eyeing smaller gateways. Duncan’s localized AOG response network is poised to provide assistance to all the U.S. host regions—including Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Seattle—with onsite troubleshooting and repair at transient and relief airports, thus avoiding costly, unnecessary ferry flights to main maintenance bases.

To keep private, charter, and fractional aircraft in service during peak demand cycles, Duncan will offer line maintenance and troubleshooting, avionics diagnostics and repair, and cabin and environmental systems maintenance, all backed by around-the-clock parts sourcing and expedited logistics to minimize downtime.

The pilot flying a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet made a successful emergency landing on June 2 at Athens-Ben Epps Airport (KAHN) in Georgia after the single-engine jet’s Williams International FJ33-5A engine failed at about 11,000 feet. According to FlightAware, the Vision Jet departed from Greene County Regional Airport (KCPP) in Greensboro, Georgia.

The jet—N129KA—is a 2024 G2+ model, according to a listing on brokerage Lone Mountain Aircraft, with 256 hours TT at the time of the listing.

According to reports cited by Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network, the Vision Jet “suffered an uncontained engine failure while climbing through 11,000 feet.” The pilot apparently elected not to use the jet’s Cirrus Airframe Parachute System and glided safely to KAHN.

At this time, there is no additional information on the engine failure. AIN has reached out to Cirrus, Williams International, and Lone Mountain for statements but had not received replies at press time.

Cirrus Vision Jet pilots practice engine-out glides and landings in the full-motion SF50 simulator during type-rating training. With a glide ratio of 14.7:1, the jet performs better with its engine inoperative than typical single-engine trainers with glide ratios of around 9:1 (for example, the Cessna 172).

Skyservice Business Aviation can now install Gogo’s low-earth-orbit (LEO) Galileo HDX satcom system on Bombardier Challenger 604, 605, and 650 business jets registered in the European Union, thanks to a new EASA supplemental type certificate (STC).

The STC helps “close a key gap in global certification coverage for operators seeking next-generation connectivity upgrades,” according to Skyservice. The FBO/MRO provider holds similar STCs from Brazil’s ANAC, the FAA, and Transport Canada. Gogo Galileo runs on the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO network, and the HDX electronically steered antenna delivers service speeds of up to 60 Mbps.

Challenger owners and operators can have the Galileo HDX system installed at Skyservice’s facilities in Toronto and Vancouver or opt to purchase an installation kit and have the system installed at their preferred location.

“With this EASA STC approval, we are extending Galileo HDX access to Challenger operators across Europe and other key international markets, while delivering truly global certification coverage across major aviation authorities,” said Skyservice president and CEO Benjamin Murray. “This milestone ensures operators can adopt next-generation LEO connectivity with confidence, regardless of where their aircraft are based or operated.”

Elevate Jet has launched Ruby, a proprietary AI pricing engine that the New York-based charter operator says is trained on 30 years of flight data from hundreds of thousands of hours of charter operations.

The system, which Elevate Jet describes as an AI agent, generates real-time pricing across all aircraft types and itineraries. According to the company, Ruby prices charters at rates up to 15% below major competitors, with pricing visible on its website and app without requiring a quote request.

Beyond pricing, Ruby oversees a proprietary flight-grading system that evaluates the operational details of each charter, including pilot and crew performance, FBO service quality, cabin condition, and aircraft sourcing. The system also retains passenger preferences, such as catering selections, dietary restrictions, and onboard amenities.

Ruby was developed using operational data from Elevate Jet’s charter work, which has included complex itineraries for professional sports teams, music tours, and corporate clients. The system refines its pricing model with each completed flight.

“Every booking makes it more intelligent, and every flight improves it,” said Elevate Jet chief technology officer Jennifer Wimberly. “As a result, Elevate Jet is able to ensure that the best version of the agent is always the one our clients are using right now.”

The FAA has proposed a $336,000 civil penalty against Planet Nine Private Air of Van Nuys, California, alleging that the operator mislabeled charter flights as Part 91/general aviation on international flight plans and conducted flights in a “careless and reckless” manner.

The charter provider sent AIN a written response, calling out the Department of Transportation/FAA for granting privileges to foreign operators that, for U.S. operators, are restricted, and noting its own commitment to safety and attention to regulatory compliance. It termed the proposed penalty a “gross overreach.”

According to the FAA, Planet Nine submitted 21 inaccurate flight plans between November 2023 and August 2024 for passenger flights between the U.S. and international destinations. The FAA also claims the company did not obtain overflight or landing permits for the flights and failed to follow its own oceanic and international procedures manual.

“The FAA’s findings involve an extraordinarily small number of flights—less than 0.2% of our total flight segments during the audit period—and have zero connection to the safety of flight,” the company said. “These isolated administrative issues resulted purely from the real-world demands of ultra-long-range international operations.”

Planet Nine has 30 days from receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond. The penalty is proposed and not yet final. The FAA did not specify in its enforcement notice what motivated the alleged misclassification of the flights.

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen was named as the first inductee into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame class of 2026. Bolen will be recognized during the Kansas Aviation Honor Awards on November 10. The Hall of Fame is displayed within the Kansas Aviation Museum, which traces the history and development of aviation in Wichita, as well as the extended area.

For Bolen, the long-time leader of NBAA, the induction brings him back to his roots as a native of Salina, Kansas. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Kansas and, early in his career, served as a legislative director for the former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kansas). Bolen worked integrally with Kassebaum on the passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, which is widely credited with breathing new life into a sector that was dying.

A graduate of the Tulane University School of Law and with a master of laws degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Bolen joined GAMA in 1995 and was promoted to president and CEO a year later. He ultimately stepped into his current role at NBAA in 2004. Bolen has made a mark on aviation, serving as chair of the Management Advisory Council and as a member of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry.

Class A Insurance has developed a tool to help helicopter pilots be more aware of notams detailing potential hazards and obstacles along their route of flight. The genesis for the tool was the fatal crash of an MD 369FF into a slackline strung across a canyon at 600 feet agl on January 2, killing the four occupants.

Questions were raised about why the helicopter’s pilot might not have been aware of a notam highlighting the slackline’s location. Team members at underwriter Class A Insurance couldn’t help wondering about the notam problem, especially because one of them was a personal friend of the deceased helicopter pilot.

“He was a good pilot,” said Robin Graham, Class A’s head of underwriting, “and that should have never happened.” Graham called chief technology officer Shayne O’Sullivan, and they wondered whether Class A could build a tool to help prevent accidents by making pilots more easily aware of critical notams.

What O’Sullivan and the Class A team came up with was a way for Class A customers who also have helicopters to conduct a risk assessment for their helicopter flights to capture obscure but critical notams and other hazards. Knowing the type of helicopter and its range, O’Sullivan designed the risk analysis to start at the helicopter’s location and analyze potential hazards within the possible area that it could fly.

Across business aviation, connectivity is becoming a critical layer of operational infrastructure. It’s influencing everything from flight safety and maintenance to passenger expectations and long-term aircraft value. Gogo has mapped this evolution into three distinct stages and what each means for operators today. Whether you operate one aircraft or many, understanding these shifts can help you make smarter decisions about inflight connectivity today and prepare for what’s next. Sponsored by Gogo Business Aviation.