It is a world first which took place far from simulators and carefully scripted demonstrations. On Saturday, December 20, a Beechcraft 200 business jet – a model that can accommodate between seven and nine passengers in addition to the two crew members – was flying over Colorado when a cabin pressurization problem occurred. The Autoland emergency landing system, developed by smartwatch giant Garmin, was then activated.
The virtual assistant took control of the machine, communicating with air traffic controllers as a pilot would have done, and then landed safely at Rocky Mountain Airport, near Denver. “This was the first time Autoland was used end-to-end in a real emergency situation»said a Garmin spokesperson.
In aviation, several automatic landing systems are already used to support difficult weather conditions. But achieving a fully automated emergency landing constitutes a new step, as the media Futurism points out.
The Garmin system is designed only for critical situations, allowing you to take “full control of the flight in order to land the plane when the pilot is unable to act»recalls the manufacturer. The Colorado episode thus marks a symbolic turning point for aviation safety.
Choice of airport and controlled landing
The Autoland device was triggered automatically, “the cabin altitude having exceeded the prescribed safety levels» after the device has undergone “a rapid and involuntary loss of pressurization”said Chris Townsley, CEO of Buffalo River Aviation. The pilots hastened to put on their oxygen masks, then “made the decision to leave the system activated»he adds.
Once in control, the autonomous system chose the disembarkation location, based on the distance to be covered and the length of the runway. “Automatic emergency landing, 19 minutes from runway 30R at KBJC“, he told the control tower, in a message that would have seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.
The aircraft landed around 2:20 p.m. local time. It had no passengers on board. Images published by emergency services show two pilots descending the boarding stairs, serene. Their choice to let the flight assistant take over was motivated and conscious: they wanted to minimize uncertain variables. “Although the system worked exactly as expected, the pilots were ready to take back control if something went wrong”recalled the director of Buffalo River Aviation.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the American civil aviation authority, will investigate the incident. But one thing is already certain: this innovative landing has made it possible to confirm the effectiveness of the Garmin solution and to outline a future where, in certain critical situations, the best human decision is to let the machine do its thing.
