After we broke the news that a King Air landed autonomously using Garmin Autoland on Saturday, mainstream media needed help to understand the significance of what had happened. CBS News in Denver contacted AvBrief to help them present the story to their viewers and our Smart Aviator Editor Larry Anglisano helped them out. This segment will be featured on the CBS Evening News national broadcast tonight (Dec. 22).
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With his background as an avionics technician and a journalist, Larry is probably the best person to explain how Autoland works so most people can understand it.
Really, it’s simpler yet … just say, “It was MAGIC!” OR, if ya wanna get technical, say it was “AI” 😀
Larry, I know you are being facetious, but it actually is an example of limited AI. Yes, there is a database of airports, but the system has to take into account weather and current aircraft operating conditions to decide which airport would be the best choice. It is actually about 80% of an automated flight system that could fly the plane from point A to B with little or no pilot input. Add the ability to listen and understand ATC instructions and you are pretty well there. Maybe our spiffy new ATC system as outlined by Sean Duffy will include digital peer to peer computer instructions that will do that. 😁
Just saw this on Facebook:
“I am so proud of our Blackhawk avionics shop in Columbia MO. A few years ago our Blackhawk Performance Center installed the first emergency Garmin “Auto Land” system in a Beechcraft King Air 200. This system can be activated by a passenger if the pilot becomes incapacitated or it can self activate if there is no interaction by the pilot in 30 minutes.
Yesterday that Garmin system that we installed, was put to the test in an actual emergency and saved several peoples lives. We don’t know if a passenger activated it or it was self activated, but the pilot was incapacitated so the system contacted air traffic control to report an incapacitated pilot and declared an emergency. They were flying from Aspen to Denver’s BJC airport. The plane descended on its own, continually communicating its position with ATC, slowed to approach speed, lowered the landing gear and flaps and made a perfect landing on RWY 30 at BJC. It then braked to a stop and shutdown the engines. No one was injured and I am told the pilot is ok.
Thank you Garmin for such an amazing system and thanks to our team In Columbia for doing a great installation.
These people will have a much better Christmas because of you.”
I may be the only one who feels that CBS deserves a pat on the back for reaching out to AvBrief for help. Remember how many times people with subject matter knowledge cringe when reading the various mainstream channels mental excursions about aviation topics.
Too often, the aviation community responds to media inquiries with suspicion and hostilities. Personally, I think we’re better off being courteous and working with them.
About two years ago, a reporter showed up on one of the homebuilt-aviation Facebook pages I’m involved with. He was looking for information on homebuilt safety. He was greeted by a ton of hostile responses.
I contacted the reporter, introduced myself, and said I’d be willing to help him on some of the safety statistics. I passed a *lot* of data to the guy, being perfectly frank in the comparison of homebuilt accidents vs. the General Aviation record. He had about ten main questions, which I answered in an email several pages long.
The article came out a couple of months later, with a very sensationalistic headline…”Homebuilt planes are SOARING in popularity – but after two deadly US crashes in two weeks just how safe is this high-flying hobby?”
But if one actually *reads* the article, you see the author did a real balanced job, quoting me and several other defenders of homebuilt aviation fairly and (mostly) correctly. Ignoring the headline, it was a very fair article.
So let’s cut the mainstream media a break. I think the majority of reporters want the truth, and are willing to respond to reasonable statistics and logic.
Article headlines are intended to grab the reader’s attention and entice them to actually read the column. Either the reporter or his editor would want to use a title to attract readers in a world where fewer people actually read a magazine or newspaper. Journalism 101. The good news in your case was that the article was well written and not another hatchet job on those crazy pilots.