diff --git a/application_sdk/activities/__init__.py b/application_sdk/activities/__init__.py
index 223a592d9..6d270f76f 100644
--- a/application_sdk/activities/__init__.py
+++ b/application_sdk/activities/__init__.py
@@ -258,7 +258,9 @@ async def preflight_check(self, workflow_args: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]
             )
 
             if not result or "error" in result:
-                raise ValueError("Preflight check failed")
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "Preflight check failed: " + str(result.get("error", ""))
+                )
 
             logger.info("Preflight check completed successfully")
             return result
diff --git a/application_sdk/common/aws_utils.py b/application_sdk/common/aws_utils.py
index 638eb91ad..0d6e64172 100644
--- a/application_sdk/common/aws_utils.py
+++ b/application_sdk/common/aws_utils.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
-def get_region_name_from_hostname(hostname: str) -> str:
+def get_region_name_from_hostname(hostname: str) -> str | None:
     """
     Extract region name from AWS RDS endpoint.
     Example: database-1.abc123xyz.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com -> us-east-1
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ def get_region_name_from_hostname(hostname: str) -> str:
     match = re.search(r"-([a-z]{2}-[a-z]+-\d)\.", hostname)
     if match:
         return match.group(1)
-    raise ValueError("Could not find valid AWS region from hostname")
+    logger.warning("Could not find valid AWS region from hostname")
+    return None
 
 
 def generate_aws_rds_token_with_iam_role(