Airplane safety is a significant concern for air travelers everywhere, whether they’re on a major commercial airline or a private jet that can land just about anywhere. Though a safe landing is never guaranteed, a new emergency technology called Autoland might change that. In late December 2025, Autoland lived up to its name and successfully landed a plane without the aid of a pilot. The landing happened at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, just outside Denver, Colorado.
When a Beechcraft Super King Air private plane, carrying no passengers, had a sudden loss of cabin pressure, and air traffic control was unable to reach the two pilots, the plane’s Autoland system responded, immediately beginning landing procedures. Autoland continued the approach and communicated with the control tower on its own. Buffalo River Aviationthe plane’s owner, made a statement that said the pilots followed all procedures and immediately put on oxygen masks. The company went on to say, “The pilots were prepared to resume manual control of the aircraft should the system have malfunctioned in any way.” But Autoland safely landed the plane, marking the first real-world use of the system.
As of this writing, there’s no indication of what actually led to the plane’s mishap. The pilots haven’t commented, and the only statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was released on the day of the incident. The FAA listed the details of the landing and stated that it is currently investigating the matter. No other statements have been made thus far.
Autoland’s history and differences from autopilot
Autoland was developed by Garmin, a GPS navigation company specializing in aviation, automotive, smart fitness gadgets for workouts, marine, and outdoor solutions. It designed Autoland to work in emergency situations, when a pilot stops interacting with the plane., but it can also be activated manually. Once Autoland kicks in, it takes full control, finds the nearest airport, and safely navigates there. It even gives passengers instructions on how to safely exit the plane after it lands.
Though Autoland is an integrated system meant to safely guide an aircraft, it’s not the same as a traditional autopilot, which doesn’t land a plane on its own. Autopilot systems assist pilots by automatically controlling a plane’s flight path. By working with an aircraft’s other systems, the autopilot can hold a set altitude, follow a route, maintain speed, or track an approach. But autopilot can only do this based on information entered by the pilot. It’s a far cry from taking complete control without pilot assistance and safely landing an aircraft.
Garmin officially unveiled Autoland in 2020, following FAA certification, becoming the world’s first certified emergency autonomous landing system for light aircraft. Autoland was built into the company’s G3000 flight deck system and was first implemented in the Piper M600. As of 2025, Autoland can be found on a variety of different planes, including Cirrus, Daher, and King Air models.
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