For the past eight years, Garmin has secretly been working on a fascinating new capability, an autoland function that can rescue an airplane with an incapacitated pilot or save a pilot when weather conditions present no other safe option. Autoland should soon receive its first FAA approval, with certification expected shortly in the Piper M600, followed by the Cirrus Vision Jet. (www.ainonline.com) 更多...
Game changer! I hope the models supported and retrofits roll out quickly. Many, many corporate buyers will line up for this technology. Well done Garmin.
No, really. Even if the flight attendant didn't know how to control the plane, it would be obvious what the first officer was doing, and the flight attendant would've let the captain back into the cockpit when he returned, and action would be taken to stop the first officer in his tracks.
Not everyone can be a high time professional or afford to hire one for every flight. Precious cargo is precious cargo and they deserve the safest travel possible.
It’s always the same argument. Safety, safety, safety....unless it’s too expensive or inconvenient. Your argument implies precious cargo has its limitations...price.
Precious cargo, as you put it deserve a second pilot. Pilot error is overwhelmingly the cause of aircraft accidents, not a pilot that is having some type of medical event. Auto-land won’t do squat for stall/spin, continued flight into adverse weather, or CFIT accidents.
Actually, it will help with continued flight into adverse weather. A pilot who ends up low on fuel with all airports within range below minimums, or who is not instrument rated and unable to program an approach in the autopilot needs only to activate this feature and sit tight while Auto-land declares an emergency, and flies to the nearest airport with a GPS approach and lands, even in zero-zero conditions.
If you read the article you would have read that this technology is scaleable up and down and soon coming to single engine pistons. In a single It's hard to put a co-pilot onboard if you want to carry your family but a few more systems boxes is doable. And this technology has the capability of reducing every type of accident/incident you mentioned.
I did read the article. Doesn’t sound to me that it’s going to be offered in smaller GA type aircraft. Unless you can put a G3000 with auto throttle and auto brakes in a V-tail Bonanza. I seriously doubt this is a “couple thousand” dollar upgrade. Probably more like 250k. The system that keeps a G1000 aircraft from losing control at one time was a 50K option.
This would put an end to a dry humor joke I sometimes use with other pilots. I say that my pilot's prayer is always, "Dear Lord, please let me die peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather and not screaming and yelling like his passengers."
Modern digital general aviation autopilots such as the Garmin GFC 500/600 or Avidyne DFC90/100 have the same feature--if the pilot is unresponsive for a given length of time at high altitude, suggesting hypoxia, the autopilot automatically descends the plane to an altitude where the pilot can recover.
Yes, a well written article with a very informative video embedded. This could have saved Patrick Stewart and, perhaps, many more where the pilot falls over and is no longer capable of effective flight activity. Not a product to "replace" the pilot, but a useful backup system. Now, could a similar system prevent the Asiana 214 flop at SFO? Time will tell!!
I believe you mean Payne Stewart and yes it probably would have since this system can also do an emergency descent. There are plenty of instances that this system could have helped with if it had been around but now we'll soon learn what it can do.
very cool - like most emergency safety features, you hope you will never need it, but be grateful it is there when you hit the "Oh Sh.t" button on the panel. This type of safety feature most certainly would have been beneficial in preventing the loss of Payne Stewart's aircraft, unfortunately the occupants most likely would have still perished due to exposure and hypoxia. Hat tip to the engineers at Garmin for working on this.
I've got an opportunity to take an Autoland demo ride in the M600SLS next week. I hope it works out and if it does I will post my observations on this squawk or a new one.
When this system develops amnesia like MCAS just did, takes over and lands in downtown somewhere, then bye bye Garmin..... Be sure to put an OFF switch on that thing.
One of first things to learn as a pilot with an auto mated or computer driven system is how to shut it down. Usually there are multiple ways. The Max pilots apparantly were not informed according to the reporting.
Garmin’s announcement has the potential to make General Aviation 2 orders of magnitude safer. In reviewing NTSB records of accidents, the aircraft has been the cause of the accident only 3% of the time, with the pilot responsible 97% of the time. This potEntially makes the GA equipped aircraft as safe as Part 121 aircraft.
It's even better in that a passenger just has to push one button. I don't know whether I would remember how to set up the ILS in a 737 in an emergency.
put your trust and faith into this at your peril. Give me a high time grey-haired pilot, male or female every single time, if you wish to have a noneventful flight.
Non-eventful flights are not guaranteed by any pilot particularly if that pilot has a medical emergency. Even if the pilot remains semi-conscious he/she could monitor the approach.