The company’s 10,000th SR Series aircraft, appropriately named N10000, is on display at EAA AirVenture this week.

“From the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) to the Perspective Touch+ flight deck, Cirrus continuously innovates to provide owners with personal aircraft that set the industry standard for aviation safety, luxury, convenience and ease of ownership,” Cirrus CEO Zean Nielsen said in a press release. “We are honored to celebrate 10,000 SR Series aircraft deliveries with our team members, partners, and stakeholders,”

Cirrus says achieving the milestone is a testament to its innovation and ability to develop industry-leading products. One of the latest technologies Cirrus has introduced are the Apple Vision flight training goggles, which enable augmented reality walk-arounds of aircraft.

During a press briefing at AirVenture, Todd Simmons, Cirrus president of customer experience, highlighted the company’s expansion, noting its new aircraft programs in Kissimmee, Florida; Scottsdale, Arizona; and McKinney, Texas. Simmons mentioned that most of the customers in the Cirrus management program are Vision Jet owners.

Simmons also noted that prior to the pandemic, some 13 percent of customers coming to Cirrus were new to aviation. He said that spiked to around 40 percent during the height of the pandemic but now it’s about 29 percent.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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Today’s Top Pick is a 2008 Eclipse 500.

During the early 2000s a number of aircraft companies were busy developing small jets, often called very light lets (VLJs) that were aimed largely at pilot-owners who were expected to use them as personal aircraft.

Part of the industry segment’s strategy included giving customers the realistic expectation that they could save travel time by flying their own small jets. Eclipse was generating lots of excitement in the general aviation market, which  veteran journalist and author James Fallows covered in his 2002 book, Free Flight: Inventing the Future of Travel.

The economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 was poorly timed for Eclipse and slowed production of the aircraft. The small jet, however, developed a following including pilots who have acquired them on the used market. If you have dreamed of owning a personal jet and are particular about aircraft styling, the Eclipse 500 could be the right airplane for you.

This 2008 Eclipse 500 has 1,052 hours on the airframe and on its two Pratt & Whitney PW610F engines. Its panel features an Integrated Flight Management System v2.08 from IS&S Standard with dual PFDs, one 15-inch MFD, color weather radar, Sirius XM Downlink Weather, geo-referenced Jeppesen approach plates, and fully coupled autopilot.

Additional equipment includes a BEI Gold engine management program, FIKI, 110-volt power outlets, 40-cubic-foot oxygen tank, Skywatch traffic alert system, Class B TAWS, Iridium satellite telephone, and air conditioning.

Pilots who saw the Eclipse’s potential when, more than a decade ago, it helped form the wave of VLJs preparing to enter the market should consider this 2008 Eclipse 500, which is available for $1.4 million on AircraftForSale.

If you’re interested in financing, you can do so with FLYING Finance. Use their airplane loan calculator to calculate your estimated monthly payments. Or, to speak with an aviation finance specialist, visit flyingfinance.com.

• FLYING Magazine: We Fly: One Aviation Eclipse 550
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• AVweb: AEROCOR Logs 150th Eclipse 500 Training Event

The post This 2008 Eclipse 500 Is a VLJ Pioneer and an ‘AircraftForSale’ Top Pick appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

To commemorate the milestone—as it did with the delivery of the 9,000th SR series aircraft in April—Cirrus will produce a limited edition version of the single-engine jet, which will feature 500th Limited Edition branding and five livery options from the company’s Xi Design Studio team.

Launched in 2016, the Vision Jet has received numerous updates over the years, including the introduction of the second-generation SF50 G2 model in 2019 and the G2+ in 2021. The G2 version saw the addition of RVSM certification, autothrottle, and a 200-pound payload increase. The G2+ received a 25 percent takeoff performance increase and Wi-Fi. Among other features added were the Collier-winning emergency autoland system in 2020 followed by Cirrus IQ and Garmin Auto Radar last year.

READ MORE: We Fly: Cirrus Vision Jet G2+

“With the delivery of the 500th Vision Jet, Cirrus Aircraft celebrates the marketplace success of a category-defining aircraft,” said Cirrus Aircraft CEO Zean Nielsen. “The Vision Jet is the only jet that features advanced innovations like the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), Safe Return Autoland, Wi-Fi, Cirrus IQ, and Auto Radar, along with a suite of other safety, comfort, and convenience features.”

READ MORE: Cirrus Vision Jet Gets Auto Radar, Cirrus IQ

The Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet G2+ offers a top cruise speed of 311 knots, 1,275 nm range, and payload of 1,350 pounds. Powered by the Williams J33-5A engine, it comes equipped with the Cirrus Perspective Touch+ avionics suite. The SF50 is capable of seating up to seven passengers and reaching a maximum operating altitude of 31,000 feet (FL310).

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Case in point: Bombardier. Though the Montreal-based company has contracted over the past five years through divestment of its Q400 and de Havilland product lines and shifted its focus away from commercial aviation, it appears to be coming through all right, having made sound decisions. The first delivery of the Challenger 3500 took place in September 2022, going to launch customer Les Goldberg, chairman and CEO of Entertainment Technology Partners. “As a previous owner of a Challenger 350 business jet, I can say with confidence that Bombardier has hit all the right notes in creating a next-generation aircraft,” Goldbergsays. “The cabin interior is spectacular, and I appreciate the added comfort and productivity that these new features will bring to our worldwide travels.”

According to the latest projection by Bombardier CEO Éric Martel, the company is taking advantage of the continued attractiveness of business aviation through Q3 2022 to both private individuals and corporations looking to avoid the squeeze of airline travel. In fact, the company expects to deliver more than 120 units by the end of the year.

The 3500 is distinguished by its auto throttle system—which received approval under TransportCanada in April—and the fact that Bombardier has published an Environmental Product Declaration for the model, making it the first of the super midsize jets to launch with this transparent life-cycle impact state-ment that outlines its projected potential for smog creation, ozone depletion, and water pollution.

Those key drivers—the pivot to business and personal travel by private aviation, the focus on sustainability, and the targeting of niche segments within the turbine market—are reflected in the owner-flown turbine segment as well.

Owner-Flown Mounts

Historically low interest rates recently have seen upward pressure, and those rising mortgage rates will surely slow the market as access to capital wanes. At press time, the federal funds rate bumped up to 3.25 percent, with an anticipated rise to up to 4 or 4.25 percent at meetings in November and December, according to kiplinger.com.

But Jim Blessing, president of AirFleet Capital—which writes loans on all models of owner-flown aircraft from pistons to jets—hasn’t seen the needle move just yet, though he admits it could change at any point. “It’s been a wild ride,” Blessing says. “Activity levels are still a little ahead of what they were in 2018,” even considering the interest rate cuts ahead of the COVID-19 crisis.

Though Blessing says that AirFleet’s activity overall is transitioning back to “more normal levels,” with fewer new transactions and more refinancing, there’s still a bright horizon. New aircraft make up 30 percent of AirFleet’s annual volume, and Blessing reports those activity levels are “a bit higher this year [in 2022]. Are interest rates going to upset buying habits?” Hard to tell, but Blessing says there is still ample cash out there earmarked for aircraft purchases. “Our biggest competitor [as a loan underwriter] is a cash buyer.”

If you want a new turbine mount, in most cases you’ll need to negotiate a substantial waiting list. Manufacturers, such as Textron Aviation, Pilatus, and Gulfstream, all register backlogs into 2024 or later—a point reflected in Blessing’s assessment: “We’re not seeing any inventory on the OEM side. Cancellations are an opportunity for the OEM,” allowing them to accommodate a new buyer at a better price than the one previously negotiated when material and workforce costs were lower.

What does this mean for the pilot or flight department that wants a new jet for the fleet, or to enter business aircraft ownership for the first time? You have a wide range of exciting platforms with incredible long-range, high-speed performance—and a “greener” signature—but you might have to plan carefully in order to secure one on your preferred timeline.

Fractional Fleet Updates

Another part of the jet market that has benefited from the continued development of niche turbine mounts are fractional jet operations. Volato, based in Atlanta, Georgia, recently announced that it would expand from its current fleet of 11 HondaJet Elites to add the Gulfstream G280. The company placed an order for four units in September.

With these incoming aircraft, Volato said it would be able to expand its business model to serve a wider share of the market. “When we launched Volato, our strategy was to initially target the largest segment of the market that was not being directly addressed: short-haul flights with only a few passengers,” Volato CEO Matt Liotta says.

“From listening to our customers’ needs and recognizing that our innovative business model is not just limited to light jets, we are excited to expand our model to larger aircraft,” Liotta adds. “This would also ensure that existing HondaJet customers would be able to fly their edge case missions that are farther or with more passengers.” The jump from six seats to the 10-passenger configuration in the G280 allows for that growth, making it the first company to operate the super midsized jet in a fractional model.

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Williams International recently completed a successful flight test of its FJ44-4 engine using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on their flying testbed aircraft. The flight was conducted from the Williams International flight operations center in Pontiac, Michigan, and flew to points in northern Michigan with a total of 3.5 hours of flight time at a cruising altitude of FL450. This flight test follows extensive material compatibility and endurance testing that validated engine performance and durability using 100 percent SAF.

“The flight was uneventful and the engine performed flawlessly,” said Williams International chief test pilot Robert Lambert, adding that “the engine did not even seem to notice that it was burning sustainable fuel.” This successful flight marks another step in the Williams Blue Planet Initiative to significantly reduce the environmental impact of aviation by driving towards a carbon-neutral product lifecycle. “We have shown that Williams’ engines can utilize 100 percent SAF to help decarbonize aviation,” said Gregg Williams, chairman, president and CEO of Williams International, and copilot of the flight test. “The next critical step is to accelerate the production of SAF to make it more widely available and affordable.”

The importance of testing jet engines using 100 percent SAF cannot be understated if the industry’s goal of halving total carbon emissions by 2050 is to be achieved. According to an AirBP report, a manufacturer of SAF, jet fuels made from sustainable materials such as waste cooking oils, wood waste, and fast-growing energy crops like algae are often blended into traditional jet-A made from fossil fuels. AirBP’s data says SAF produces up to 80 percent fewer lifecycle carbon emissions than the traditional fuel it replaces. To be a truly sustainable fuel, it needs to be 100 percent SAF, such as the fuel used in the recent Williams International flight test.

The FJ33/FJ44 family of fanjet engines began with the introduction of the simple yet rugged FJ44-1A, and there are currently more than 5,700 FJ44 engines in service with an accumulated 13 million hours in flight, according to the company. This two-spool turbofan engine uses two low-pressure turbines to drive a fan and intermediate pressure compressor, and one high-pressure turbine to drive a centrifugal compressor. The company currently offers four models in thrusts ranging including the 1,850 lbf produced by the FJ33, with the FJ44 family producing between 2,100 to 3,600 lbf of thrust.

Because of the low weight and high output of this small family of engines, OEMs have been able to develop light jets such as the single-engine Cirrus Vision Jet, which uses the Williams International FJ33-5A for its power. And the PC-24 “Super Versatile Jet” from Pilatus uses a pair of Williams FJ44-4A engines producing 3,420 lbf of thrust each for power.

Along with producing its family of fanjet engines, Williams International is also known for establishing highly integrated and automated manufacturing facilities to produce its commercial and military products. According to the company, its production workflow simply boils down to this: “Ingot and other raw materials enter one end of these facilities and finished engines exit the other.”

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Cirrus Aircraft’s new VisionAir program plans to make the ownership of a new single-engine Vision Jet a complete turnkey operation designed especially for people who might be new to owning a turbine aircraft, or might not even be pilots. But VisionAir is more than simply covering the tricky parts of aircraft ownership like maintenance and hangar issues. With VisionAir, Cirrus Aircraft promises to take care of all the details, from preparing the aircraft for flight to rolling out the red carpet for passengers and even stocking the owner’s favorite refreshments onboard. Cirrus says it delivered its 200th Vision Jet last month.

The comprehensive program includes an on-demand professional pilot, concierge services, complete maintenance coverage, aircraft management oversight and storage, as well as options for insurance coverage and referrals for professional tax advice. VisionAir goes beyond fractional ownership and charter services to offer full ownership and what Cirrus Aircraft dubs “a consistent world-class experience.”

Cirrus began deliveries of the original Vision Jet in 2016 followed by an enhanced version, the G2 Vision Jet in 2019. Both aircraft include Cirrus’ revolutionary full airframe parachute system for emergencies. Further enhancements to the Vision Jet were announced in late 2019, with the addition of the Safe Return Emergency Autoland System—a revolutionary feature that allows passengers to land the Vision Jet in an emergency situation with the simple touch of a button. The combination of Safe Return and the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) provides the ultimate level of safety and assurance exclusively to Vision Jet operators.

At the moment, VisionAir is only available at Cirrus Aircraft’s newest factory-direct facility at McKinney, Texas (KTKI), located in the Dallas Metroplex area, but it promises more locations will be coming online soon.

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The FAA adopted an airworthiness directive effective June 11, 2020, for the Cirrus Vision Jet SF50 that requires the removal of the headset amplifier and microphone interface circuit boards for the 3.5 mm audio and microphone jacks.

The AD, sent to all US owners and operators of the Cirrus Vision Jet, was originally created as an Emergency AD, in February 2020, prompted by a ground incident when a Vision Jet pilot noticed smoke rising from the right sidewall interior panel. The FAA says failure to comply with this AD could lead to an uncontained cabin fire that could injury people onboard and lead to a loss of aircraft control. No special flight permits will be issued to address this issue. The only exceptions to this AD are operators who previously complied with the Emergency AD.

Originally published as a safety-of-flight issue, the original AD did not allow for public comments. The agency is now requesting comments, data and suggestions not later than July 27, 2020 through its Regulations.gov site, by Fax or by mail listed under the “addresses” section of the directive.

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Your punishment for whatever mistake you’ve made in an airplane shouldn’t be the ultimate one. Not for you—and certainly not for your passengers.

That’s the underlying philosophy inspiring engineers to create revolutionary safety technologies for light aircraft across the past century. Advancements such as the large-format multifunction display with in-cockpit weather, upset protection and emergency-descent protocols—and whole-airframe ballistic recovery systems—stem from this drive toward solving our mistakes as pilots. Case in point: About 20 years ago, Cirrus delivered the airframe parachute to a certificated light airplane as standard equipment—known as the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. Just a year or two later, Cirrus debuted its version of the wide-horizon primary flight display—around the same time as in the Lancair Columbia—but soon after, the innovative PFD followed in a cascade of single-engine pistons and twins.

Proponents saw into the future with the possibilities; those pilots with a reactionary take questioned the potential misuse of the technology. In a handful of cases, those skeptics proved to be correct—but for the bulk of the general aviation public, the result has been a net gain in both safety and utility. While the most recent statistics have shown an uptick in the fatal-accident rate (according to the most recent 2018 NTSB data), it’s premature to say more pilots have come to grief solely because of technology.

Say you’ve stumbled into IFR conditions or a situation in which you couldn’t fly your way out—we can all agree it’s better to learn your lessons by living to study the aftermath. And it’s the case even more that technology can save you from making those mistakes in the first place.

Autonomy refers to a state of being able to make choices and execute decisions as sovereign unto one’s self. Garmin’s Autonomi suite uses various tools to hand over that state to the airplane in an emergency situation—most likely when the pilot becomes incapacitated—and offers passengers an “out” they didn’t have before. The company has now introduced the key element: Autoland, the breakthrough system that allows those parts of Autonomi to not only escape the immediate hazard but also bring the airplane to a safe—and really quite-normal—landing.

Approaching Autoland

As a company, Garmin has created an environment within its walls where the testing of new ideas doesn’t necessarily need to go anywhere—so dreaming up the basic elements that would constitute the Autoland system for light aircraft fit right into the mix. But from the beginning, the engineers doing that forward thinking didn’t want their efforts to coalesce into just a “really great R&D project” and nothing else, and instead drove toward a system with broad practical application across several levels of aircraft types.

Bailey Scheel—senior aviation-programs engineer and manager at Garmin—grew up in Idaho, where she first learned to fly and where her family flew a Cessna 180 throughout the backcountry. Her excitement in joining the Autoland development team lies in its multifaceted nature: “The breadth of the project touches everything in the avionics, touches everything in the airplane—the radios, the transponder, the flight-control system, the [flight-management system], the displays—it touches everything,” she says. “There were definitely technical challenges in each of those areas, but just wrapping our arms around what it really was, was probably one of the more difficult things.”

The research into Autoland began in 2011; the first flight took place in May 2014. In September 2015, Garmin looped in the FAA, and in February 2016, it performed its first automated landing on an actual runway surface. Before that, all of the landings took place in the sky.

Jessica Koss is Garmin’s aviation-media-relations specialist and an experienced flight instructor, and she describes the process—which, to anyone familiar with Garmin’s creative side, makes perfect sense. “We’re very vertically integrated as a company, and part of that integration includes our own aviation database team,” Koss says, “so we actually built airports up in the sky—at 5,000 feet or what have you—and we would practice the approach to landing at altitude, the flare, the landing, all of that before we brought it down to the ground.”

In 2016, Piper Aircraft stepped up to the plate, eventually committing roughly $3 million in assets to the program, including test aircraft. “Over three years ago, I said, ‘I’m all in, whatever you need,’” says Piper president and CEO Simon Caldecott. “It’s a big advantage [for] our class of aircraft. We see more and more people who want to buy a seat in an airplane—and to know there’s a safety benefit.”

The platform of choice? The manufacturer’s flagship, the M600. Piper’s customers can fly the aircraft under BasicMed, as long as they keep operational weight to 6,000 pounds or less and stay below 18,000 feet. Not to suggest that those flying under that program are more likely to suffer a medical emergency; in fact, any one of us could fall prey to a sudden cardiac event or stroke.

But Caldecott and the Piper team identified a sweet spot inhabited by the M600 for the first implementation of Autoland—the bones of the airplane fit the project. The airframe’s big enough to have room to work with while putting into place all of the required components. It also had an option for a radar altimeter, which turned out to be important for the first application of the system.

Most pilots might think they would never use the Autoland function—and all companies involved in its debut hope they’re right. But Caldecott believes in the value of the system—what Piper has branded Halo—enough to envision that it will become standard on Piper’s full lineup of aircraft at some point in the future.

How Did I Get Into This?

Autoland engages under two separate conditions: when someone in the airplane, either the pilot or passenger, presses the guarded button or the system detects a lack of response from the pilot.

In the latter case, Koss describes two branches of the Autoland architecture based upon emergency functions already familiar to pilots using recent versions of Garmin’s series of flight decks. “The first scenario, think of it as your EDM scenario,” Koss says. “The pilot is flying straight and level [with the] autopilot on, at one of those hypoxic altitudes, and they don’t interact with the flight deck. They’re going to get that message, ‘Are you alert?’ and they just have to push any button on the flight deck [to answer the system’s query], and if they don’t, then EDM will descend [the airplane] to a lower altitude.” After a period of time, if the pilot continues to not interact with the flight deck or do anything, then Autoland activates.

The other automated scenario anticipates the need for aircraft recovery from a serious upset. Let’s say an inexperienced—or less-than-current—pilot gets into the clouds and starts banking really hard or pitching up aggressively or lowering the nose. “Then ESP will engage, and then again if ESP is engaged for a prolonged period of time…it will go into level mode,” Scheel says. If level mode is active for two minutes, and the pilot does not take the airplane out of level mode, then Autoland activates without further prompting from anyone in the airplane. “And that’s probably the more desirable condition for [the pilot and any passengers]—especially if you’re upside down and disoriented.”

All Elements In Place

When someone inside the airplane presses the button, Autoland immediately launches into its activation sequence. Two of the engineers behind its development describe each element of the process and how their work evolved to deliver the desired outcome: a reasonable landing at the most appropriate airport determined by the program. Eric Tran has been the primary senior software engineer, with the responsibility to develop the algorithm that constitutes Autoland “brains.” Ben Patel is team leader of aviation systems, heading up the cadre that has solved for solutions on the mechanical side. Both are listed on the original Garmin patent.

First, Autoland ensures envelope protection. The aircraft uses ESP to return to straight and level if needed.

Second, the system provides terrain protection. The team gave the example: What if Autoland engaged while the airplane flew below the ridgeline at Crater Lake in Oregon, where terrain on all sides creates an immediate hazard? The system would recognize that and enter a circling climb until clear of the terrain.

Third, Autoland moves to weather avoidance. “When you select the button, Autoland is going to take into account a lot of information, and it’s going to happen immediately,” Koss says. “It’s going to consider weather en route, weather at the destination—Autoland even has the capability to forecast weather” up to 15 minutes into the future. XM Nexrad data is updated every 2.5 minutes, and Autoland can use all of the sources, including Iridium and Flight Information Services–Broadcast, to request fresh data when able. If the system finds it necessary, Autoland can reroute to a more optimal airport.

Fourth, the system executes a route selection to the nearest appropriate airport. These calculations take place within 8 milliseconds, according to Tran. It also considers fuel on board, so it will select a destination within your fuel range. “Runway surface, length, width, type—all of that is taken into consideration. For the M600, the ideal runway length is 5,000 feet. We’ll accept 4,000 feet if that’s all that’s within range for us,” Koss says.

Choosing the airport: “We take apart the decision a pilot would make, and we narrow it down into these discrete buckets, [which include] attributes for a destination,” Tran says. “We can give each of these a score, and we can weight those, [in a configurable fashion] and for the [manufacturer’s] preference; it’s the preference for the airframe. If they tune it in a particular way, [the algorithm] can pick a longer runway and pick one that isn’t affected by crosswinds as much—but however they tune it, it’s going to be a safe selection.”

The Landing

“We collected the data, and it turns out that pilots don’t fly a glidepath perfectly down until they’re on the runway,” Patel says. “At some point, they decide, ‘That’s OK, close enough,’ and they actually dip below [the glidepath], typically, and flare up a little bit. So we had to look at some data and try to understand what makes sense and when we need to deviate from that geometry that we’d provided. We actually turned the problem into a little bit of a transition from a glidepath tracking to where we go into a mode where we’re simply trying to convert to vertical speed.”

Touchdown needs to be a bit firm. “The goal is not to feather it down but to be as comfortable as possible,” Patel says. “Once we get it down, [we want to] keep it on the ground.” That’s a steady vertical descent, as much nose-up as aerodynamically optimal, until the system is “confident” it’s on the ground. “Probably one of the hardest parts of the problem is knowing when you’re actually on the ground. We spent a lot of time just in the flight-test area really dialing in what is the right angle of attack, what is the right vertical speed target to get us on the ground.” The system also has to compensate for a wide variety of runway conditions, such as rain, ice or snow. On larger aircraft, these factors can be mitigated by a robust braking system, but on a light aircraft, it might not be cost-efficient or technically feasible.

But the truth is in the flying, so I took up Garmin’s invitation to come out and fly one of the M600 test aircraft in August 2019, before it returned to flight-test status and out of reach of aviation journalists vying for a preview. We took off from New Century AirCenter outside of Olathe, Kansas, and climbed up over the plains. Garmin flight-test pilot and engineer Eric Sargent sat in the right seat and walked through the activation. The control tower supervisor at New Century was somewhat in the know about what we were doing—but the automated calls to ATC were not part of the demo because they would instantly raise awareness of what the company had on the burner.

All was straightforward following activation—and we deactivated the system on our first attempt because of traffic vectored into the runway ahead of us. With a fully operational system, the airport normally would be cleared of conflicting traffic following the sequence of emergency radio calls triggered via Autoland. If a traffic conflict occurred, that’s a similar scenario to an encroachment made following a pilot’s own emergency call.

“I can tell you’re an instructor.” Sargent referred to the involuntary position of my hands below the yoke as we descended into the round out over the runway. True—I have grown accustomed over the years to restraining myself from smoothing out a student’s efforts in managing the touchdown, and I’ve learned to accept variations in technique (and contact with the runway) in order to allow for learning to take place. In this regard, Autoland looks to be a consistent performer. Our touchdown felt firm but secure, the kind of landing you would want on a slick runway to break any surface tension rain may have left behind. Sargent related that they had made more than 800 test landings at that point in the program.

We came to a stop on the runway, with the braking and steering mechanisms adjusting our rollout in a fairly smooth fashion. The engine did not shut down, but it would in the real activation. If we followed the instructions on the screens, we would exit the airplane on the runway and ostensibly be met by emergency personnel—shaken but not stirred.

Safe Return for Cirrus

Cirrus had the architecture for Garmin’s Autonomi system in mind for the Vision Jet from its inception and installed components of it on the airplane as they became available. The key to the final system capability was the addition of the autothrottle to the jet—without that, Autoland cannot perform its duties.

The Autoland program fits in neatly with Cirrus’ overall philosophy of taking what were unrecoverable accident chains in light aircraft, such as a midair collision or spatial disorientation, and crafting out-of-the-box ways to break those chains. The CAPS, for example, and the original primary flight display with a horizon-spoofing baseline. In the Vision Jet, the activation button is placed in the main cabin, well within reach of anyone in the passenger seats. This is key to the customizations made for Cirrus’ version of Autoland, which it has branded Safe Return.

Ben Kowalski, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Cirrus, has Garmin Aviation roots; he was its director of sales and marketing prior to arriving at the aircraft manufacturer. He envisions Autoland as a natural extension of the capabilities of both companies. “We see it being a pretty big deal because, in a passenger aircraft, this Autoland system can be activated [by someone] sitting anywhere in the aircraft…[it] turns it into an autonomous vehicle, and it’s making decisions to return to an airport like a pilot would. In the Vision Jet, you get to see the pilot [work], but now you get this enabling tool…I can press a button and bring it back to landing.”

Kowalski continues by making the direct link to the Cirrus philosophy. “If you have an airframe issue: CAPS. If you have a pilot incapacitation issue: Safe Return. We wanted to make sure that, if there’s a pilot incapacitation, the passengers can have access to the safety feature—Cirrus is trying to grow aviation.”

Todd Simmons, president of customer experience at Cirrus, explains further. “It all began with Garmin Perspective” and the inclusion of ESP and EDM—and the “smart” autopilot servos that drive those functions. “All of that integration…but it’s bigger than the technology. Collectively, we can harness them. We imagined [that would happen] when all the technology came together—autothrottle, autobraking and the key enabling technologies within the G3000.”

Standard on the Cirrus too? Yes, it will be a system on board in every single Vision Jet for now. And this is purposeful. “It changes the way single-engine pilot operations can happen. The stereotypical [worst-case] scenarios—it gives us a story to dispel those fears,” Simmons says.

On Final Final

Each aviation generation sees a handful of revolutionary concepts, those leading-edge technologies that, once introduced to the airplane, undergo a transition period—because they are so game-changing—before we fully understand the increase in safety they can provide. As certification progresses on the M600 and Vision Jet, training must take place—for both pilots and passengers—in order to maintain the level of safety that Garmin, Piper and Cirrus envision.

The first true activation of Autoland will come at some point in the future—just like the first deployment of CAPS following its introduction on the SR20 in late 1999. That incident didn’t occur until 2002, when a lone pilot who had departed Addison Airport in Texas aboard his SR22 deployed the chute following a loss of control, prompted by the separation of the left aileron from the airframe. It took three years, essentially, for the first use of the innovative system in an emergency. One person’s life—inarguably—was saved. Nearly 20 years later, we look for a similar outcome with Autoland.

This story appeared in the Jan/Feb 2020 issue of Flying Magazine

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