Plane makes emergency landing without pilot’s help, in first use of “Autoland”

A plane landed at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport without a pilot’s help on Saturday in what appears to be the first real-world use of new safety technology. According to Garmin, their emergency “Autoland” system was activated for the first time ever for the landing at around 2 p.m. Saturday. The landing was successful and the charter company for the plane told CBS Colorado that everyone involved was OK.

According to LiveATC and a pilot that heard the communication at the time, a robotic voice over air traffic control communication can be heard saying, “Pilot incapacitation, two miles south… emergency Autoland in 19 minutes on runway 3-0.”

It came not long after taking off from Aspen’s airport reported a pressurization problem while flying over the Denver Metro area.

“We lost pressurization,” the pilot told air traffic control…

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