Garmin Emergency Autoland deployed for the first time | Flightradar24 Blog

54 Responses

1. Wow! That was impressive stuff.

2. That is truly wonderful. Happy to hear paasengers are safe–hope the same for pilot.

   1. No Passengers, a relocation flight!

   2. Did you read? NO PASSENGERS.

   3. Have you read the post ? Don‘t think so. There have been NO passengers on the flight and none if the pilots have really been incapacitated.

   4. No passengers, read the article.

   5. Did you not read the whole article? In ithe article it states “In this case, however, the pilots were not actually incapacitated. The Emergency Autoland system activated automatically due to the rapid compression, but the pilots remained alert and able to operate the aircraft.”
      Further down the article ” the pilots, exercising conservative judgement under their emergency command authority (FAR 91.3) made the decision to leave the system engaged while monitoring its performance and attempting communications as able within the constraints of the system. While the system performed exactly as expected, the pilots were prepared to resume manual control of the aircraft should the system have malfunctioned in any way.”
      It was a positioning flight, NO PASSENGERS!

   6. Passengers?

   7. Did you read the article? No passangers, pilots both ok.

   8. Happily the passengers were very safe, as there weren’t any. Because that’s what it said n the article. And I’m guessing the pilot(s) was (were) OK, because that’s also what it said in the article.

   9. There were no passengers. It was a repositioning flight.

   10. It says in the story above “…with no passengers onboard…”

   11. Si lee bien dice, que no iba con pasajeros solo piloto, falta más lectura.

   12. Read again. This was a repositioning flight with no passengers.

   13. There were no passengers on board. It was a repositioning flight with only the two pilots.

3. Amazing is an understatement !!!

4. I’m confused. Did someone on the plane have to set the plane to squawk 7700 for the autoland feature to take over? If so what if there is only the pilot and he is unable to set the squawk?

   1. I looked it up on Google and it says that Garmin Autoland does squawk 7700 along with communicating with ATC.

   2. 7700 will be tuned automatically upon activation of EA.

   3. The article states that Autoland squawks 7700 automatically when activated

   4. No, system sets 7700 itself upon activation.
      Why don‘t you read the post before commenting ??

   5. according to the article above, it is automatic.

      “In this case, however, the pilots were not actually incapacitated. The Emergency Autoland system activated automatically due to the rapid compression,”

   6. Read the article and understand what it says before you ask a question.

   7. No, the sudden loss of cabin pressure was what triggered the autoland sequence. It “assumes” (reasonably) that the pilot will have been incapacitated by that event. In this case the pilots were able to don their oxygen masks, and they chose to let the system continue to control the plane while closely monitoring it.

   8. “The Emergency Autoland system will set the aircraft’s transponder to 7700 upon activation.”

      The avionics did it automatically.

   9. The autoland system automatically sets the squawk code to 7700.

   10. There’s just one big red button. The system sets squawk automatically.

   11. No. It was automatic in this case based off n the sudden depressurization event.

   12. Read again. Autopilot activated automatically with rapid depressurizations.

   13. “ The Emergency Autoland system will set the aircraft’s transponder to 7700 upon activation.”

       — Photo caption.

5. Having sadly witnessed an airplane crashing many years ago in the UK with 11 fatalities (everyone on board) due to pilot incapacitation I can only say how fantastic this Garmin system is. The aircraft in question was very close to Leeds Bradford airport. Passengers tried to control the aircraft and despite their attempts failing they did avoid built up areas and crashed into a field nearby. I hope the Garmin system can save many lives.

6. Is this system currently installed on commercial aircraft? Some? Or most?

7. Best safety invention since the ballistic parachute!

8. I’m not sure why the entire process of commercial flying has not been automated. There have been more deaths by suicide-by-pilot and pilot-error than any other cause. I would feel safer if a computer did all the flying and a pilot monitored.

9. Great news!!!

10. More on the artistique side “B”

11. Some seriously great design congratulations to the developers of this amazing achievement

12. Technology at its best!

13. Yes, this technology is absolutely amazing!

14. This story will ask for some follow-up, I guess.
    I read it in an AOPA Online article penned by Jim Moore: “King Air autolands in Colorado: Garmin system declared ‘pilot incapacitation’ emergency on radio, landed as designed” (December 22, 2025, updated December 24 to include new information).
    The thing reads highly casual/unusual, as “it was not clear why the King Air crew opted not to make any radio calls of their own during the descent and landing at the Colorado airport,” if only to allow a realistic appraisal of the situation by the Rocky Mountain Municipal Airport emergency crew. First responders leaked an embarrassing video clip which “shows the King Air stationary on the runway with its propellers turning slowly as emergency vehicles approached. Two people with backpacks, one holding a plastic bag, exited the aircraft, its propellers still turning, and had a conversation with the first firefighter to approach the aircraft.”
    As it is understandable that the two pilots chose to let the Garmin system perform what it was designed for—autoland—the Garmin system declared a pilot-incapacitation emergency, and despite being fully conscious and capable, the pilots let the narrative run its course—saying nothing on the radio and letting ATC believe the automation’s version of events until touchdown.
    By the way, what caused depressurization in the first place? It is said they flew home the following day without incident…

15. That is so awesome! This is wonderful technology and I’m so grateful for those that were involved in creating it. Keep up the good work!

16. When the system is activated it automatically changes the squawk.

17. There were no passengers

18. Even better than a parachute!

19. Finally a failsafe system for these type of situations. What Garmin have developed could potentially save many lives both in the aircraft and on the ground. Truly a remarkable display of human invention and ingenuity. Top work Garmin.

20. A fantastic boon for aviation. Will help pilots immensely when confronted by such critical emergencies. Hats off to Garmin. Well done.

21. Like a horse that finds it’s way back to the stable on its own

22. The system proved to work as designed, and will save many lives in the future, especially when the pilot(s) is/are incapacitated and the passengers are not pilots.
    However in this case one thing bothers me. I have heard the ATC recording and the tower called the planed twice, but the pilots did not reply. Why not? Did the autoland system disable the radios because it uses them itself to send the computer generated voice messages? Otherwise I do not understand why the pilots did not reply.

23. That was a simulated loss of pressure (i.e activated by the pilots for testing the system) or was a first real incident?

    I assume that GARMIN has done many tests before selling and installing the system in an aircraft.

24. How does the system select the undercarriage down on a non electric system?

25. If this is possible on jets like the beach king air, why isn’t it possible on airliners, such as the 737 and A320 family

    1. Good question, Vill. If you look at Garmin’s website you will see that all the aircraft this system is designed for are single pilot operations. Aircraft that require two pilots have each other as backups, and there have been many instances where a pilot had to take over and land a commerical jetliner because the other pilot became incapacitated. That’s why there are two pilots on the flight deck. Developing and installing equipment like this in a Boeing or Airbus aircraft would be costly and statistically unnecessary.

26. It is true that the Garmin Autoland System was deployed for the first time in this incident. And yes, it automatically squawked 7700. The issue the FAA is probably going to investigate is why the pilots allowed the system to stay engaged when Garmin specifically states that, “Autoland is strictly for emergency use only, designed for when pilots are incapacitated or unable to fly, and should not be used for routine landings by fully capable pilots.” In this case the pilots were fully capable of flying the aircraft, which is in direct contradiction to how Garmin intended and received FAA approval for its use. They also potentially put other aircraft at unnecessary risk by allowing the autoland system to continue using emergency air traffic control services. Once below 12,000 feet, I would argue that they should have resumed normal operations. Kudos for the Garmin Autoland System though. It did work as advertised.