A small plane made an emergency landing at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport after the pilot became incapacitated. According to reports, the safe landing appeared to be the first real-world use of Garmin’s automated technology. “Garmin confirmed that an ’emergency Autoland activation had occurred at the airport on Saturday, resulting in a successful landing. We look forward to sharing additional details at the appropriate time,'” Breaking Aviation News & Videos wrote. “Garmin Autoland is a safety-enhancing technological system used during an emergency when a pilot is unable to fly the aircraft. It’s currently unknown the condition of the pilot or the number of passengers on the flight,” it added. A Beechcraft Super King Air N479BR made an emergency autonomous landing at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado on Saturday after the pilot became incapacitated. Garmin confirmed that an “emergency Autoland activation had occurred at the airport on Saturday,… pic.twitter.com/qX7VfJ5haq — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) December 22, 2025 Denver7 has more: Per the company’s website, the Garmin Autoland system “takes complete control of the flight to land the airplane in an emergency where the pilot is unable to fly” finding an optimal airport for landing, while considering runway length, distance and fuel range, among other factors. Though it was not clear how the pilot was incapacitated, air traffic audio obtained by Denver7 can be heard communicating that there was “pilot incapacitation” and relaying how many miles out to the airport the plane was and which runway it intended to use to land safely. In a statement, Sydny Boyd, a spokeswoman for RMMA, said they were aware of the situation and had nothing to report as the plan landed safely without incident. The North Metro Fire Rescue District and Westminster Fire Department responded to the emergency landing at the airport, but North Metro Fire said no one on the plane was treated on scene or taken to a hospital. “Over the weekend, the Garmin Emergency Autoland system was activated for the first time in a real emergency scenario. The aircraft landed safely in Denver and all onboard are safe,” Flightradar24 stated. Over the weekend, the Garmin Emergency Autoland system was activated for the first time in a real emergency scenario. The aircraft landed safely in Denver and all onboard are safe. https://t.co/K6dQXt0nOF pic.twitter.com/OHFr8C0Wpd — Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 22, 2025 CBS News shared further: The Autoland system works with the push of a button and can be activated by anyone on board the aircraft or can self-activate after a prolonged period of no pilot activity. In the air traffic control audio, the same robotic voice can also be heard describing the flight’s tail number as N479BR. On Flight Aware, this tail number is shown landing at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport on Saturday afternoon, flying in from Aspen. Local flight instructor Adam Lendi was with a student when he says he heard the traffic over his radio and went out to see the plane land. “We saw the fire trucks starting to head out,” Lendi went on to explain, “I was familiar with the auto land systems, and I recognized that’s what was going on. So I told my student, I said, ‘We might be witnessing something pretty cool here.'”