The Daily Populous Friday December 26th, 2025 night edition
Authored by cnn.com and submitted by izzyusa

An airplane has, for the first time, automatically landed itself after an in-flight emergency, according to the system’s manufacturer.

Two people emerged unscathed from the Beechcraft Super King Air 200 after it stopped on the runway at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver, according to video posted by emergency responders.

The twin-engine turboprop landed under the control of Garmin’s Autoland system, which the company says is now installed on about 1,700 airplanes. “This was the first use of Autoland from start-to-finish in an actual emergency,” Garmin said in a statement.

The operator of the plane, charter company Buffalo River Aviation, says the Autoland system automatically engaged during a flight from Aspen with no passengers on board.

“The aircraft experienced a rapid, uncommanded loss of pressurization” and the pilots put on their oxygen masks, said charter company CEO Chris Townsley in a statement. Autoland “automatically engaged exactly as designed when the cabin altitude exceeded the prescribed safe levels” and the pilots “made the decision to leave the system engaged,” Townsley said.

In a demonstration of the system in a Cirrus Aircraft SR22 in April, CNN was able to test Autoland under controlled circumstances. Pushing a large red button activates the plane’s on-board autopilot, steering the airplane to a suitable airport and making announcements to air traffic controllers.

“Pilot incapacitation,” an automated voice can be heard saying on air traffic control audio of Saturday’s incident from LiveATC.net. It warns other pilots in the area: “Emergency auto-land in less than 1 minute on runway 3-0 right.”

Buffalo River Aviation’s CEO clarifies that “reports of pilot incapacitation are incorrect and result solely from the Garmin emergency system’s automated communication and reporting functions.”

“In this case, the crew consciously elected to preserve and use all available tools and minimize additional variables in an unpredictable, emergent situation, prioritizing life and a safe outcome over all other factors, as they are trained to do.”

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

waltcrit on December 25th, 2025 at 16:18 UTC »

My son-in-law worked on this tech. Such a great feeling to see it in action!

BetterMakeAnAccount on December 25th, 2025 at 15:50 UTC »

But what about my fantasy where both the pilots are conked out and I bravely land the plane with zero training or experience?

seriousnotshirley on December 25th, 2025 at 15:07 UTC »

Something interesting here, the plane depressurized which triggered the autoland. The pilots got their masks on and decided to let the autoland do its thing.

I think this is an interesting and good decision. Our instincts are to be in control, especially in an emergency, but the pilots recognized that they were in a situation where they could be in control one moment and not in control the next if the problem suddenly got a lot worse.

The plane was in communications with the tower and the tower was issuing clearance (even if the autolanding system didn’t understand it); so the pilots knew the plane wasn’t about to make a dangerous landing.

Kudos to the pilots for making choices that trust the equipment over themselves when they were in a potentially compromised position.