![N4789BR flight log [Flightaware]](https://avbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/autoland-save-N479BR.jpg "N4789BR flight log [Flightaware]")
The FAA says it is investigating the activation of the Garmin Autoland system on a King Air 200 in Colorado on Saturday. It issued the following statement. “A Beechcraft Super King Air landed safely at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado around 2:20 p.m. local time on Saturday, Dec. 20, after the pilot lost communication with air traffic control. An onboard emergency autoland system was activated. Two people were on board. The FAA is investigating.”
The agency declined to elaborate on the nature of its investigation, but CBS News reported a pressurization issue was involved in the Autoland activation. The Fox News affiliate in Denver reported that the local fire department was puzzled by the emergency response to the airport since neither of the men on the plane required treatment or transport to a hospital. In the event of a depressurization, the Garmin system immediately begins an emergency descent to 15,000 feet and if the pilots do not intervene the Autoland sequence begins automatically.
The NTSB is also looking into it and it, too, is not providing any detail. “We are aware of the event and currently collecting information to determine if it meets the criteria for an investigation,” the NTSB said in a statement.
Garmin earlier confirmed it was the first non-test use of its Autoland system. “Garmin can confirm that an emergency Autoland activation occurred at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, Colorado,” the company said in a statement Sunday. “The Autoland took place on Sat., Dec. 20, resulting in a successful landing. We look forward to sharing additional details at the appropriate time.” Garmin also confirmed that it was the first use of the system that was not a test or a demonstration.
Social media posts from flight tracking hobbyists reported a King Air 200 squawked 7700 about 2 p.m. local time today. The Autoland system was initiated and landed the aircraft at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver. A recording from LiveATC’s feed of the airport’s tower frequency includes a robotic female voice declaring a pilot incapacitation and the intention to land on Runway 30. The aircraft landed successfully and there have been no reports of injuries. The nature of the incapacitation and the condition of the pilot have not been released. VASAviation put together this nice animation of the event below.
The aircraft, N479BR, was being operated by Buffalo River Outfitters from Aspen to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan. It’s not clear how many people were on board. The system appeared to work flawlessly, and the controller at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan seemed to take it in stride, accommodating as many requests as he could before shutting down the airport for the landing. We’ll have more detail on this as it becomes available. There were some social media posts questioning whether there was an actual emergency. Garmin did not respond to our questions regarding those posts. The aircraft operator did not respond to our email and phone requests for comment. The aircraft took off first thing on Sunday morning for Oklahoma City, which is a major certification technical center for the FAA.
Larry Anglisano recorded this video demonstration of the Autoland system in the Beechcraft King Air.
A reader was at the airport Saturday and shared this video that he had posted to Instagram.
I caught some video of the King Air right after it stopped on the runway today. See here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSgDCLlEfbw/
Announcement was at 8:55 rather than 9:55.
Kudos to Garmin for developing such an amazing system, to Textron Aviation for making it available for some of its models, to the pilot who must have done a thorough preflight briefing and to the passenger(s) who had the presence of mind to press the red button. Also kudos to the air traffic controller who handled the emergency with such cool professionalism. I hope that the pilot is okay.
I might also add, kudos to this company for installing the system in this aircraft. It is no small expense, but their decision saved lives–and an airplane.
It cannot be installed, it comes from the factory in newer models.
AI says:
“The Garmin emergency Autoland system can be retrofitted to certain King Air models, specifically select King Air 200, 300, and 350 series aircraft that are already equipped with the Garmin G1000 NXi integrated flight deck.
This is a key difference from some initial Autoland applications which were only available on new production aircraft. The retrofit availability through a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) means that existing owners can upgrade their aircraft.”
Impressive indeed, and kudos to the Denver controllers, that’s some pretty busy time there. Glad everyone is safe, (hopefully that includes the pilot.)
Autoland is not cute tech. The emergency was pilot incapacitation. The system took over, ATC kept the runway and airspace clean, and everyone got down safe. That is exactly what this is for. Impressive.
After a successful 53 year career (26,000 hrs), I lost my own FAA medical 3 years ago, due to a minor stroke; being past 80, I opted not to renew. I must say that watching the King Air emergency auto land, brought tears to my eyes; gratefulness for the life of a fellow pilot.
I’ve seen several demonstrations of the system and it’s nice to see that it operates the same way in the wild. The SR-22T G7+ that I fly has the system and I’m glad it’s there while hoping it’s never used.
Garmin has won many awards for the Autoland system including the Collier trophy, many others, and the North American trophy from the Honorable Company of Air Pilots (UK)
I’ve seen posts on VAF from someone at the airport stating the autoland was accidentally activated, and the pilots didn’t know how to deactivate it. There were 2 pilots onboard.
Oh, geez…
Here’s a summary for deactivization thanks to AI:
To turn off an accidentally activated emergency autoland (like Garmin’s Autonomi), you simply press the Autopilot (AP) button on the controller or the AP disconnect button on the control yoke (stick). This immediately disengages the system, giving control back to the pilot, with audio/visual confirmation, and allows for re-engagement of normal autopilot or manual flight after checking aircraft settings.
Key Steps for Deactivation:
Before Full Engagement (15-Second Window):
After Deactivation:
Well…….at least it seems to work great….
Wonder if that is where they wanted to land????
According to FlightAware, that was their flight planned destination.
That observation came from a Reddit post in which someone says he heard the pilot say that to ATC but the Rocky Mountain controller said the King Air was NORDO. He also prefaced his final landing clearance with “If you can hear me….” We’re trying to get confirmation one way or another. Stay tuned.
As I stated there’s a post on VAF, one would hope it’s just rumor. I certainly hope that the activation was not accidental and it all worked out.
So you post and perpetuate an unverified rumor that is potentially damaging to the crew, to Beech, and to Garmin? Maybe there were gremlins onboard? Maybe aliens activated the autoland? Now please get super defense about being an idiot and threaten to beat me up.
Easy Bill. There’s no evidence of bad faith by anyone in discussing this and it would help if those who know exactly what happened would clear it up. We have asked but have had no response. In the meantime, no one is beating anyone up.
I’m sure he or she had a current FAA medical, another example of FAA Aeromedicine at its best.
Fantastic, Similarly, think how many lives Tesla Self Driving will save over time.
With these new details, I’m very confused why the pilots chose not to radio in and let them know what was going on. Something seems very fishy about their response.