Thrive Aviation is moving into fractional ownership through a strategic partnership with, and minority investment from, Arulean Air, a Honda Aircraft subsidiary, the operator announced today. Under the arrangement, Arulean Air will purchase aircraft for the program while Las Vegas-headquartered Thrive handles operations and management, spanning flight operations through client relationships.

Two jet types will be included in the fleet at launch: the HondaJet HA-420 and Bombardier Challenger 3500. The former is intended for regional flying, while the super-midsize jet will cover longer trips carrying more passengers, with owners assigned to whichever aircraft suits the mission. The first two aircraft have been delivered, with annual additions projected at four to six HondaJets and two to four Challengers as the owner base and fleet expand. 

The program can also draw on the 30-plus aircraft Thrive already operates, giving owners access to other airframes as requirements shift.

“Adding fractional ownership opportunities enables Thrive Aviation to serve a broad spectrum of clients throughout their entire private aviation journey—from charter to fractional ownership to full ownership,” said co-founder and CEO Curtis Edenfield. He described the agreement with the Honda Aircraft subsidiary as a “long-term, first-of-its-kind partnership” providing the basis to build the program at scale. Full program details will be released next month at NBAA-BACE 2026 in Las Vegas.

Security experts have stepped up advisories to aircraft operators around rising threat levels in Russian and Gulf region airspace. The increased risk to air traffic was flagged as military conflict escalated in both regions this week.

On Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned airlines that Ukraine’s ongoing drone attacks mean that Russian airspace should be considered “completely unsafe” and should be “effectively” closed. While insisting that Ukrainian forces are not targeting civil aircraft, Zelenskyy urged operators and insurers to accept that “the war started by Russia is closing its skies.”

Meanwhile, Iranian drone and missile strikes in response to U.S. attacks have targeted airbases and airports in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, and Bahrain. Yesterday, Osprey Flight Solutions warned clients that airspace disruption and threats to infrastructure could extend to the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel if the conflict continues to escalate.

The German government also confirmed yesterday that Russia was responsible for a drone attack last month at Leipzig/Halle Airport that interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said followed “the well-established pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe.” Russia’s Vladimir Putin administration accused officials in Berlin of staging evidence against it while also signaling its intention to retaliate against countries, including Germany and the UK, that are arming Ukraine.

A driver fleeing a New Hampshire State Police trooper crashed through a perimeter fence at Portsmouth International Airport (KPSM) in New Hampshire on Saturday night, striking a Kubota tractor and a parked PlaneSense Pilatus PC-12 on the airport’s ramp before coming to a stop. No one was injured. The aircraft—registered to May Ten and operated by PlaneSense—was substantially damaged, with photos showing the left wing severed.

State police said a trooper attempted to stop a black 2008 Ford Mustang on Durham Street in Portsmouth at 8:09 p.m. while searching for a vehicle connected to crimes reported in other jurisdictions. The Mustang’s driver fled after spotting the trooper, crossing onto airport property without the vehicle’s headlights on before hitting the tractor and the airplane.

Troopers took the driver into custody at the scene. He was identified as Wyatt Seely, 17, of Rochester, New Hampshire, and was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

In a statement to AIN, PlaneSense confirmed that the incident happened at the company’s national headquarters, where the aircraft was waiting for routine maintenance. “While the aircraft sustained significant damage, we are grateful that no PlaneSense employees were injured. No flights or operations were impacted,” it said.

Powerplant system or component failure was the top occurrence category in fatal accidents involving business aircraft during the second quarter. In fact, they accounted for two of the six fatal accidents—three in business turboprops, two in business jets, and one in a turbine helicopter—that killed 22 people over the three-month period.

NBAA’s review included 66 reportable events—42 incidents and 24 accidents—from April through June. Takeoff and landing accidents were the most common type, accounting for one fatal and four nonfatal accidents. This was followed by runway excursions and powerplant failures, each with three mishaps.

Incidents, not just accidents, can expose operational hazards worth addressing, according to NBAA. On this note, it pointed to the frequency of bird strikes and component failures as reasons for continued focus on wildlife-hazard awareness, maintenance discipline, and recognizing abnormal aircraft indications.

Bird strikes were cited in 12 of the 66 events, with system or component failures other than the powerplant not far behind at 11. Powerplant-related failures accounted for nine of the events.

Mark Larsen, NBAA’s director of safety and flight operations, said the findings “reinforce the need for rigorous preflight preparation, disciplined takeoff and landing practices, runway-excursion prevention, and close attention to aircraft system and powerplant reliability.”

NBAA said its safety reports are meant to surface patterns for further attention, rather than assign probable causes.

Take a closer look at what goes into a landing gear overhaul at DAS Aviation. Mark Tillotson, Landing Gear Technician III, walks through the process of addressing corrosion on a Bombardier Challenger 300 landing gear assembly and the attention to detail required throughout the overhaul process.

The FAA has proposed special conditions for certification of the Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW220A engine featuring an idle cruise regime (ICR). The PW220A will have a unique design when installed in a twin-engine, transport-category helicopter, allowing one engine to power the aircraft during cruise while the other runs at a low-idle condition.

Because airworthiness standards don’t address the ICR concept, the FAA proposed special conditions so the engine can meet a safety level equal to that of existing standards. P&WC applied for certification on Nov. 16, 2021, and applied for an extension on May 7, 2025. The 2021 type certification basis still applies, although P&WC will have to meet the special conditions.

The specific conditions apply because current regulations “do not contain the ICR definition and do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for the type certification of these new and unusual engine ratings,” according to the FAA. This would include “ratings and limitations [that] are established for horsepower, torque, rpm, gas temperature, time duration, and number of occurrences for rated ICR active maximum continuous power and rated ICR 2-minute power.”

Other requirements involve the engine control system and its ability to recover engine operation automatically from ICR; induction icing at ICR; the ability to increase from ICR to 95% rated power in five seconds; hail and rain ingestion; and endurance and operation testing.

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday overwhelmingly approved a measure that averts a potential government shutdown at the end of the month, continuing government-wide funding at fiscal year 2026 levels through December 11. Since the Senate had already agreed to the stopgap at the beginning of August, House approval sends the measure to President Trump’s desk for signature.

FY2026 ends on September 30, but lawmakers have made little progress on forwarding FY2027 appropriations bills for nearly all of the government agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the FAA. This could have set up a possible funding showdown just before lawmakers are set to break for their campaigns ahead of the November elections. However, pushing off the deadline also paves the way for potentially finalizing appropriations bills during a lame-duck session.

Air Traffic Control Association president and CEO Stephen Creamer praised the move, emphasizing the importance of keeping the government open so officials continue to progress on National Airspace System modernization. He stressed that the effort to implement a “brand new air traffic control system” will require an additional $19 billion in funding from Congress, adding that it is “paramount” that government leaders remain focused on this.

The FAA has approved Aviation Specialties Unlimited’s (ASU) lightweight E3 Panoramic night-vision goggles (NVG) as meeting the design and production minimum performance requirements under technical standard order C164c.

A follow-on to ASU’s white-phosphor lightweight E3 NVG, the E3 Panoramic, with a 94-degree field of view, adds two more NVG tubes outboard of the center tubes that help the pilot employ peripheral vision with less head-turning, a critical factor in helicopter flight. The unit’s light weight of 660 grams (the baseline E3 weighs 390 grams) also helps reduce pilot fatigue. “This certification provides operators with next-generation panoramic night-vision capability designed to improve situational awareness and operational effectiveness in demanding flight environments,” according to ASU.

E3 Panoramic NVGs are available immediately, and the technical standard order approval “enables the E3 Panoramic to be integrated into approved aircraft configurations through applicable installation and operational approval processes,” the company said.

“As mission demands continue to increase, operators require technologies that provide greater awareness and confidence in challenging environments,” added ASU v-p of business development Chad St. Francis.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has concluded that high school students taking aviation maintenance classes in non-certified mechanic training programs should be allowed to take the general written knowledge test, the first step in the airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic licensing process. This would help alleviate the mechanic shortage by encouraging students to continue their training and become licensed, it said.

According to the GAO, there are nearly 100 aviation maintenance programs that also serve high school students, and 43 of these are high schools but not FAA-approved under the Part 147 regulations that govern A&P programs. That prevents these high school students from taking any of the tests for licensing.

The general knowledge test is one of three written tests, and candidates must also pass two oral and practical exams after completing the Part 147 curriculum or logging 18 months of maintenance experience for each license (A or P) or 30 months combined for both licenses.

There are more than 200 A&P schools in the U.S., and 11,103 people earned their A&P certificate in the U.S. last year. Of those, 7,513 graduated from Part 147 programs, 2,210 qualified by work experience, and 1,380 were able to use military experience to qualify to take the written and oral/practical tests.