Four years ago, Garmin Aviation was going through the final stages of the certification process on its first installment of the emergency landing system, Autoland, on the Piper M600. In the intervening time, the avionics OEM and its airframe partners have secured approval on two single-engine turboprops—the Piper and Daher TBM 940—and the single-engine Cirrus Vision Jet. Garmin’s also in the process of working on Autoland in its first twin jet—Honda Aircraft’s HondaJet Elite II.
But its latest impending approval? Garmin announced on Wednesday that certification is “imminent” on a new retrofit kit for certain Beechcraft King Air 200s. While not technically the first retrofit package for Autoland—that honor goes to the upgrade offered by Daher for certain previously delivered 940s—it marks the first supplemental type certificate provided by Garmin directly to the aftermarket.
