Garmin began flight-testing Emergency Autoland in 2014 and achieved its first fully automatic landing in early 2016.

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Location PART 3 - THE THIRD AXIS CHAPTER 15: DEPLOY NOW, PRAY LATER Deploy Now, Pray Later - Root

"Garmin began flight-testing Emergency Autoland in 2014 and achieved its first fully automatic landing in early 2016."

Head's interview with Garmin executive Phil Straub establishes the development timeline between initial flight testing and the first complete autonomous landing. Integrating control systems, choosing suitable airports and programming the landing sequence required years of additional engineering. The timeline illustrates the gap between an appealing concept and a reliable operational implementation.

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Source title The accountability problem exposed by the first Garmin Autoland deployment

Source authors Elan Head

Source year 2026

Confidence mid

Importance mid