Emergency Autoland: The Button That Lands the Plane
Garmin's Emergency Autoland can pick an airport, land and stop an aircraft if the pilot cannot. Since 2020 it has spread from single-engine turboprops to light jets, and in December 2025 it handled its first real emergency.
For decades, pilot training has covered engine failures, fires and ice. The one scenario without a real answer was the pilot becoming unable to fly: a heart attack, a stroke, or hypoxia after the cabin loses pressure. In an airliner the other pilot takes over. In a turboprop or light jet flown by one person, the passengers had no way to get the aircraft down.
What it is
Emergency Autoland, announced by Garmin on 30 October 2019, fills that gap. Once engaged, it chooses an airport, flies there, lands, brakes to a stop and shuts down the engines with no human input. Garmin groups its automation features under the name Autonomí, and aircraft makers brand the package their own way: Piper calls it HALO, Daher calls it HomeSafe and Cirrus calls it Safe Return. The work earned Garmin the Robert J. Collier Trophy, one of the most prestigious awards in American aviation.
How it works
There are two ways to start it. A passenger can lift a guarded switch, usually in the cabin ceiling or beside the cockpit displays, and press it. Or the aircraft can act on its own: if the system detects no pilot interaction for a set period, it asks for a response and takes over if none comes. On the upcoming Citation Gen3 jets, Textron describes a one-minute warning on the primary flight display before the system engages.
The software then works through a list. It weighs fuel, weather, terrain, distance and runway length to pick the most suitable airport, not simply the nearest. It sets the transponder to the emergency code 7700 and broadcasts recorded voice messages on air traffic control frequencies, giving the aircraft's identity, intentions and expected arrival time. Cabin screens switch to plain-language pages that tell passengers what is happening and how long it will take.
The autopilot flies a GPS approach, lowers the gear and flaps, lands, brakes and cuts the engines. None of this works without an autothrottle, the device that moves the power levers automatically to hold a target speed. Autothrottles have been routine on airliners and large business jets for decades. In small aircraft they are new, and they usually arrive alongside Autoland, where they reduce workload on every flight rather than only in emergencies.
Where it stands today
The first approvals came in 2020: the Piper M600/SLS in May, the Daher TBM 940 in July and the Cirrus Vision Jet G2 in August. The Piper M700 Fury, certified in March 2024, carries it as standard. The Pilatus PC-12 PRO, the first aircraft certified with Garmin's G3000 PRIME flight deck, includes it, and so does the Daher TBM 980, which began deliveries in January 2026. The HondaJet Elite II received FAA approval for Emergency Autoland in February 2026, the first twin-engine very light jet to have it; its autothrottle had been approved in October 2024.
Retrofits followed. The first installation in an older Beechcraft King Air 200 took place in January 2024, and in August 2025 the FAA approved Autoland and autothrottle for select King Air 350 aircraft. Garmin said the King Air 350 was the eleventh model certified with the system and the largest aircraft so far.
On 20 December 2025 the system handled its first real emergency. A King Air 200 operated by Buffalo River Aviation lost cabin pressure while climbing through about 23,000 feet after leaving Aspen, Colorado. The two pilots put on oxygen masks and chose to let the system fly. It selected Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver and landed there. Nobody was hurt, and Garmin called it the first real-world use from engagement to full stop.
Not every announced installation is active. The Epic E1000 AX received its FAA type certificate in July 2025 with autothrottle, but Epic said Autoland would be switched on only after a separate FAA approval, which the company expected in 2026.
Which aircraft have it, and what comes next
In the JetAtlas catalogue, Emergency Autoland is fitted to the Piper M600/SLS and M700 Fury, the Daher TBM 940, 960 and 980, the Cirrus Vision Jet from the G2 onward, the Pilatus PC-12 PRO and the HondaJet Elite II. The Beechcraft King Air 260, 360 and 360ER have carried a factory autothrottle since 2020, without Autoland.
In October 2024 Textron Aviation announced that the Citation CJ4 Gen3, CJ3 Gen3 and M2 Gen3 would come with Emergency Autoland, with the CJ4 Gen3 due in 2026 and the other two in 2027.
The limits are real. The system needs a GPS approach to a runway long enough for the aircraft, and it assumes the aircraft itself is still flyable; it cannot fix a mechanical failure. Large-cabin jets flown by two pilots have less need for it. Its real importance is in the single-pilot market, where one medical event used to decide whether a routine flight ended safely.
Sources
- Garmin: Autoland and Autothrottle certified for select King Air 350 aircraft (August 2025)
- AOPA: King Air autolands in Colorado (December 2025)
- AVweb: HondaJet Elite II certified with Emergency Autoland
- Textron Aviation: Citation CJ4 Gen3, CJ3 Gen3 and M2 Gen3 unveiled
- AOPA: Epic E1000 AX certified (July 2025)
- Skies Mag: A deep dive into the Pilatus PC-12 PRO
- AOPA: Daher TBM 980, Prime Time (2026)