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A twin-engine turboprop aircraft landed itself at a Colorado airport on Saturday after a sudden cabin failure — a first-of-its-kind emergency touchdown carried out entirely by an automated flight system.
The aircraft — a Beechcraft Super King Air 200 — touched down safely at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport outside Denver on Dec. 20 after suffering a rapid loss of cabin pressurization while climbing out of Aspen, according to the operator.
The aircraft was passing through at about 23,000 feet when the pressurization failure triggered a high-altitude emergency that can quickly leave pilots oxygen-starved.
Instead of attempting a manual recovery, the two pilots allowed the aircraft’s automated emergency landing system to take control and fly the plane to the ground.
The system immediately selected the safest nearby airport, alerted air traffic control and handled the approach, landing and rollout without any pilot input.
After touching down, the plane slowed on the runway, brought itself to a stop and shut down its engines, completing the emergency landing without damage or injuries.
Early reports suggested the pilots may have been incapacitated, but the aircraft’s operator later said both crew members were conscious and able to fly the plane.
The company said the pilots deliberately chose to let the automated system finish the job to reduce risk during a fast-moving and potentially dangerous emergency.
The Garmin G3000 Autoland system is designed to take over if pilots become incapacitated — or if a crew determines automation is the safest option in an emergency.
It analyzes terrain, weather, fuel levels, runway length and aircraft performance before choosing a destination and flying the aircraft there autonomously.
The system was developed by Garmin, a major supplier of cockpit navigation and flight-control technology used across private and commercial aviation.
Autoland was first introduced in 2019 and later earned the aviation industry’s top safety honor for its potential to save lives in cockpit emergencies.
Saturday’s landing marked the first confirmed real-world use of the system during an actual in-flight emergency.
The aircraft, which was operated by the Arkansas-based charter company Buffalo River Aviation, comes equipped with the automated landing technology as part of its flight deck.
Federal aviation authorities are reviewing the incident under standard procedures, as is routine after an in-flight emergency.