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Garmin Emergency Autoland IRL First Use Reported (all safe).

DeltaRomeo

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
[EDIT/UPDATE:

Garmin Emergency Autoland IRL First Use Reported (all safe).

[EDIT/UPDATE: https://vansairforce.net/threads/garmin-emergency-autoland-irl-first-use-reported-all-safe.240041/post-1896962. v/r,dr] https://avbrief.com/autoland-saves-king-air-everyone-reported-safe/ Audio link: ⬆️⬆️⬆️ Robot voice calls ATC around 11:49 mark in ATC link given, and...
vansairforce.net
. v/r,dr]

avbrief.com

Autoland Saves King Air, Everyone Safe, FAA, NTSB Launch Probes (Updated) - AvBrief.com

Aircraft landed safely at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver on Saturday afternoon.
avbrief.com avbrief.com

Audio link: ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Robot voice calls ATC around 11:49 mark in ATC link given, and center/approach works the airspace like they are trained.

🤖 “479BR pilot incapacitation. ​
7 miles SE of kilo bravo juliet charlie. ​
Emergency auto land in 13 minutes on runway 30 at kilo bravo juliet charlie.” 🤖​

Doubt we’ll ever see anything like that in our lifetime in an RV, but I wanted to give a shout out to the tech and people involved.
v/r,dr

Screenshot 2025-12-21 at 11.45.28 AM.png
Screenshot 2025-12-21 at 11.52.50 AM.png
C
 
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DeltaRomeo said:
avbrief.com

Autoland Saves King Air, Everyone Safe, FAA, NTSB Launch Probes (Updated) - AvBrief.com

Aircraft landed safely at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver on Saturday afternoon.
avbrief.com avbrief.com

Robot voice calls ATC around 11:00 mark in ATC link given, and center/approach works the airspace like they are trained.
Doubt we’ll ever see anything like that in our lifetime in an RV, but I wanted to give a shout out to the tech and people involved.
v/r,dr
Click to expand...
That's my home airport!

EDIT: and I was in the hangar all day. If I had a radio tuned to tower, I would have walked out and seen it happen.
 
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I just saw that as well. Really cool, but I have so many questiopns;

Does that plane have had auto throttle and auto braking?
How did it track centerline after touchdown?
Did somebody have to push the button, or did it trigger itself based on some metric?
 
I not sure any of this is accurate. That company flies with two pilots on their flights per their website. But more importantly, a friend of mine was holding short at DEN Intl and was listening to the radio, and the pilots of the King Air came on and said that the autoland was accidentally activated and they didn’t know how to turn it off. Obviously I could be wrong… I have not verified this information other than what my buddy told me.
 
Desert Rat said:
I just saw that as well. Really cool, but I have so many questiopns;

Does that plane have had auto throttle and auto braking?
How did it track centerline after touchdown?
Did somebody have to push the button, or did it trigger itself based on some metric?
Click to expand...
There are several articles, and at least a few videos, that explain it with a moderate level of detail. In short, it can be activated manually by a passenger if something happens to the pilot, but it can also self-activate in certain situations, eg if the pilot doesn’t respond to an alert after cabin depressurization.

I’m surprised that crew wouldn’t know how to deactivate the system, and also that it could have been inadvertently activated. If memory serves, that switch is guarded and well away from others, at least in the OEM installs that I’ve seen. The KingAir involved may be a retrofit. It will be interesting to learn more as the story develops.
 
Update: BJC is also my home airport… I was here yesterday when they towed the plane off the runway although I didn’t know the details so I didn’t think much of it.

Anyways, Just talked to a lineman here at Signature. He says there were two pilots, and they were totally fine… They just didn’t know how to deactivate the system once it was accidentally activated.
 
Tandem46 said:
Update: BJC is also my home airport… I was here yesterday when they towed the plane off the runway although I didn’t know the details so I didn’t think much of it.

Anyways, Just talked to a lineman here at Signature. He says there were two pilots, and they were totally fine… They just didn’t know how to deactivate the system once it was accidentally activated.
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So why were they not on the radio talking if both pilots were fine?
 
I have seen so many conflicting so called FIRST HAND accounts of what happened here that I don't know what to believe. One thing is for certain, the technology did an awesome job!
 
Plane flew back to Oklahoma the next day. Am looking forward to more info down the road.
Neat technology.
 
I doubt I’ll ever be in an auto-land aircraft, but, curious minds want to know: Can anyone post the section from the Garmin manual that tells how to turn auto-land off once activated? Or, are there no such instructions?
 
RV8JD said:
Please feel free to do so, and post the procedures you find.
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Googling "garmin autoland documentation" brought me this, which does say at the bottom of page 1 that "Operation of EAL can be cancelled at any time by pushing the red autopilot disconnect button located on the yoke or pressing the AP button on the autopilot controller" - but that's a memo from the Irish Aviation Authority, not Garmin documentation, so I have no idea how current it is or if there are errors.

And that's my point. Systems like ChatGPT don't have insider access to any of Garmin's documentation other than what was crawled from the internet, and lose track of details like "according to an IAA memo". I'm touchy about this because I've seen a lot of AI hallucination recently, specifically in aviation (Google's AI search results hallucinating that an airport had a temporary control tower, and confusing Augusta Georgia with Augusta Maine), so I'm asking that people verify the output of these systems before re-posting them. If you want to take GPT's word for it then you're welcome to do so, but I think that reposting something on a forum merits a higher bar, especially in response to someone asking for "the section from the Garmin manual".
 
Brantel said:
I have seen so many conflicting so called FIRST HAND accounts of what happened here that I don't know what to believe. One thing is for certain, the technology did an awesome job!
Click to expand...
Here's a follow-up news article, but it leaves more questions than answers...

edit: there's more info in this article. The interesting part, emphasis mine, is:
"Climbing through 23,000ft MSL, the aircraft experienced a rapid, uncommanded loss of pressurization. As per standard procedures, the two pilots immediately put on their oxygen masks," the company's CEO Chris Townsley. "The aircraft, equipped with Garmin Aviation's latest Emergency Descent Mode (EDM) and Autoland systems, automatically engaged exactly as designed when the cabin altitude exceeded the prescribed safe levels. The system selected a suitable airport per Garmin criteria (KBJC, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport), navigated to it, and communicated automatically along the way."
Click to expand...
 
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lr172 said:
There has to be more to this story we haven’t heard yet. Not sure how any pilot in that situation would not attempt to press the AP disconnect button to regain control. It is an AP function after all.
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Well.. it made national news.. so.. I'd say it's a free commercial for Garmin..
 
So... Marketing stunt? 🤔

Maybe a better question: given this system is unlikely to ever get installed in an RV... Or at least not in a tail wheel RV... What does this discussion have to do with RV's?
 
Snowflake said:
So... Marketing stunt? 🤔

Maybe a better question: given this system is unlikely to ever get installed in an RV... Or at least not in a tail wheel RV... What does this discussion have to do with RV's?
Click to expand...
I use Garmin’s Smart Glide in my RV-10 as an almost autoland for my non-pilot wife. She can use it to get to 500’ over the airport of her choice, in any weather, configured (she puts the flaps down) and trimmed for landing where she disconnects and hand flys the landing.

Two years ago at OSH, I spoke to one of Garmin’s product managers and told him how I was using Smart Glide as a poor man’s autoland. He said he was doing the same with his family and wanted to see it evolve into something closer to the real autoland. Obviously nothing official but one can hope.
 
The crew of a Beech King Air 200 elected to ride their damaged aircraft to a safe landing in Colorado using the Garmin Autoland system after a pressurization failure according to the company that operates the aircraft. In a statement to CBS News (AvBrief has tried repeatedly to contact the operator) Buffalo River Aviation CEO Chris Townsley told the network’s Denver affiliate that as the plane climbed through 23,000 feet from Aspen on its way to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, less than an hour away, it suddenly depressurized. The pilots put on oxygen masks and let the Autoland system take over. The two pilots aboard remained alert for the entire episode and did not require any medical treatment after the autonomous landing. The Autoland system used the term “pilot incapacitation” in its automated radio calls to air traffic control​
​
“The aircraft, equipped with Garmin Aviation’s latest Emergency Descent Mode (EDM) and Autoland systems, automatically engaged exactly as designed when the cabin altitude exceeded the prescribed safe levels. The system selected a suitable airport per Garmin criteria (KBJC, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport), navigated to it, and communicated automatically along the way,” the company said. “In this case, the crew consciously elected to preserve and use all available tools and minimize additional variables in an unpredictable, emergent situation, prioritizing life and a safe outcome over all other factors, as they are trained to do. The aircraft returned home the following day without incident.​
​
“Buffalo River Aviation is grateful to the pilots for their exceptional judgment and execution of protocols, and to the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport and Denver Center Tracon personnel for their assistance and support during this event.”​

from avbrief:
avbrief.com

Autoland Crew 'Consciously' Let System Take Over (Updated With Operator Statement) - AvBrief.com

Pilots rode out the autonomous sequence rather than intervene to 'minimize additional variables.'
avbrief.com avbrief.com
 
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Now, if we find out later that one of the pilots dumped the cabin to see what would happen, and then they chose to let the emergency play out, that's going to be a whole different mess to sort out.

In theory and unexpected loss of pressurization triggered this event - what checks were done before it flew home, and at what altitude?
 
Snowflake said:
So... Marketing stunt? 🤔

Maybe a better question: given this system is unlikely to ever get installed in an RV... Or at least not in a tail wheel RV... What does this discussion have to do with RV's?
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Because we don’t all fly tail wheel RVs. :LOL: I’d like to think it could be an option for the experimental world one day. It’s cool tech, and I am sure I’m not the only geek that would put it in their plane, just because it’s so cool. I’m sure the wife would like it too.
 
scard said:
I bet when Garmin deliberated the "pilot incapacitated" verbiage, they never imagined that two pilots would choose to just ride the automation all the way to the airport.
Click to expand...
I've never even seen that system but I could have figured out that the autopilot disconnect switch will shut it off.
 
georgemohr said:
EAB capability? Would need servos on the throttle and mixture + some software magic...
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Well I’m thinking EFII, so no mixture control needed, but the prop may need some control, assuming CS. With all that is done in the auto industry for cruise control, may be there is some OTS hardware that could be used.
 
rocketman1988 said:
Sorry, a pressurization problem is something we train for, and quite frankly, the pucker factor goes WAY up even on a practice auto land. Given the choice, I'd prefer to be in control...just my professional opinion.
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I am with you. Who in there right mind sits back and lets an otherwise unproven system do everything from radio calls to airport choice and land just because you are on the O2. Sorry, not buying that story. If it is true how are those pilots not in the CEOs office being asked what were you thinking?

Have to wonder what the faa will say about having to shut down an airport while two capable pilots sit back and watch the autoland system declare an emergency.

This should be interesting to watch unfold.
 
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rv8ch said:
Correct - trivial in theory, much more complex in practice. Assuming you want some level of resilience.
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Almost all new ICE engines manufactured these days are software driven. So given the other complexities involved in making an airplane land, yes, controlling the engine should be absolutely trivial.
What makes it “more complex” is that there is no real market for retrofitting it to 50yo technology outside of people that are price insensitive.
The self driving car problem has largely been solved at a retail price point. And that’s orders of magnitude more complex.
 
Richard Connell said:
Almost all new ICE engines manufactured these days are software driven. So given the other complexities involved in making an airplane land, yes, controlling the engine should be absolutely trivial.
What makes it “more complex” is that there is no real market for retrofitting it to 50yo technology outside of people that are price insensitive.
The self driving car problem has largely been solved at a retail price point. And that’s orders of magnitude more complex.
Click to expand...
The problem - as I understand it from talking with folks in back rooms at Airventure - is that Garmin lawyers will not allow the engineers to risk damaging (or more importantly getting BLAMED for damaging) someone’s expensive Lycoming by mis-management 0f the mixture, throttle and prop. Yes, we all know that our modern car engines are completely computer controlled…but not the old Lycs….. Remember that aviation is a pretty small part of the overall Garmin business model, yet it probably accounts for a huge share of the liability.
 
There was a statement earlier (don't remember if it was here or on social media) that the airport it landed at was their flight planned destination. If true, that seems like another "too good to be true" coincidence that the pressurization decided to fail right when they were going to land anyway.

Still, coincidences happen. So maybe it was a case of it's activated, and we can deactivate it anytime, but why don't we let it go and see how it does? If it works, we'll be famous! Or infamous...
 
larrynew said:
I use Garmin’s Smart Glide in my RV-10 as an almost autoland for my non-pilot wife. She can use it to get to 500’ over the airport of her choice, in any weather, configured (she puts the flaps down) and trimmed for landing where she disconnects and hand flys the landing.
Click to expand...

Fair point, I didn't know the tech had reached that far into the EAB world. Still, 500' or 5000', most of my passengers may still end up in a ball. Even nose wheel RV's need feet on the rudders to land safely.
 
I think the pilots are going to have issues with the FAA. No excuse for compromising a large piece of airspace and no excuse for apparently not clearing the runway after landing.
 
Richard Connell said:
The self driving car problem has largely been solved at a retail price point. And that’s orders of magnitude more complex.
Click to expand...

It does not feel like autoland would be as computationally intensive task as the car full self driving. There are no pedestrians, no airplanes within a few feet radius, no traffic lights, or complex unprotected turns etc. The RV can fly an AP coupled approach already almost down to the numbers. Throttle management, landing flare, braking and comms are the only missing parts.

jrs14855 said:
I think the pilots are going to have issues with the FAA. No excuse for compromising a large piece of airspace and no excuse for apparently not clearing the runway after landing.
Click to expand...

Since the big boys at Garmin are involved and this was "only" the BJC I don't think the FAA will make a big deal out of it. If they tied up Denver International for hours may be there would be more scruitiny. No harm no foul :)
 
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