Cirrus Announces New Airplane with Garmin “Autoland” Emergency Feature

Imagine that you are a passenger in a plane, but the pilot becomes incapacitated during the flight. Large commercial aircraft have a copilot to address this “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” situation, however private jets and recreational planes often do not, due to cost or space, and it can mean the difference between life and death.

Cirrus, a leader in single-engine piston aircraft, announced that the SR Series G7+ will come equipped with the Safe Return Emergency Autoland function that allows the plane to land autonomously at the press of a button. The system uses advanced algorithms and sensors to fly autonomously to the nearest suitable airport, navigate the terrain, obstacles and weather notify air traffic control, communicate with the passengers, notify air traffic control and then land the aircraft on the appropriate runway to bring it to a full stop and shut down the engine.

Cirrus was well-known for its emergency parachute system attached to the plane's airframe, but it needs to bring the plane down at a certain speed and configuration, while the fall is uncontrolled and means that the plane would crash. The Safe Return Emergency Autoland was developed by Garmin, the leader in GPS-enabled products and other aviation equipment - and is the first of its kind to be approved by the FAA (US Federal Aviation Administration).

The development of the solution was divided into three phases. First, a flight control group is responsible for the auto-throttle, auto-braking, auto-steering, and other mechanical automation. A display group that developed the algorithms for the decision-making, routing, and landing (the most difficult part) while integrating the input from the GPS, altimeter, traffic, and over a dozen sensors. Lastly a certification group from Garmin, Piper, and Cirrus for the approval of the entire system that marries rich sensor redundancy, real-time optimisation, and full-authority servos.