Autoland

A quick bit of history: Captain Iven C. Kincheloe—an Air Force test pilot back in the 1950s—was the first to climb a research aircraft above 100,000 feet, eventually peaking at 126,200 feet. He died in 1958 following an accident in an F-104. It’s in his honor that the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for exceptional contributions […]

In a milestone that marks the first certification of a modern autoland system on a light, personal jet, Cirrus Aircraft and Garmin Aviation announced the approval of Safe Return on the Cirrus Vision Jet. Cirrus also celebrated the 200th delivery of the Vision Jet in July, solidifying its position as the best-selling general aviation jet […]

French aircraft maker Daher says new TBM 940s rolling off the assembly line in Tarbes, France, will now be equipped with the HomeSafe system, which allows the aircraft to automatically locate a suitable airport and conduct an instrument approach to a safe landing should the pilot become incapacitated. The new HomeSafe system—that simultaneously received both […]

Piper Aircraft and Garmin International announced on Monday, May 18, 2020, the final FAA certification on the Halo-equipped Piper M600SLS, which uses Garmin’s Autoland feature to land the airplane without human intervention in the event of a pilot-incapacitating emergency. The last push to finish flight tests on the innovative system consisted of validation and coordination […]

Daher gave an update on the HomeSafe autoland capability for the TBM 940 in a media briefing on Wednesday, May 6. Senior vice president of Daher’s Aircraft Division, Nicolas Chabbert, announced that Garmin’s emergency Autoland capability—standard on all 2020 940 models—would be available once final certification testing was complete. Phil Straub, executive vice president for […]

Your punishment for whatever mistake you’ve made in an airplane shouldn’t be the ultimate one. Not for you—and certainly not for your passengers. That’s the underlying philosophy inspiring engineers to create revolutionary safety technologies for light aircraft across the past century. Advancements such as the large-format multifunction display with in-cockpit weather, upset protection and emergency-descent […]

FLYING takes a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas and analysis that went into the development of this innovative addition to aviation safety.