Originally Posted by Turbosina (Post 3137534)

Anybody see the new auto-divert / autolamd system that Garmin is rolling out on new Piper M600s (single engine turboprops) and other airframes? I flew one the other day and we tried it (with prior ATC approval, well outside congested airspace.)

It is amazing. Press one button during cruise flight and it goes into auto-divert mode. It calculates the best airport to divert to, taking into account weather, traffic, and runways. It broadcasts its intentions on the correct frequencies. Then it goes ahead and lands, and stops the airplane on the runway centerline.

That system is operational today in a small $2.8M turboprop. It works far better than I'd imagined. Unfortunately I think we're closer to the days of single-pilot (or no-pilot) 121 operations than most of us would like to believe.

Originally Posted by Cyio (Post 3137640)

I agree. You will have diehards on here touting how far out this is, but I sadly dont see it. I think Covid was the death nail for delaying this progress as we are the biggest expense short of fuel. Think about the yearly cost savings of halving your pilot group?

Do I see it commercially in 5 years, no, 10 probably not, but certainly in my career, which isnt that much longer. It just isnt that hard to fly an airplane for a computer, hell we do it everyday. Now that ATC has the "texting" option to aircraft we dont even need voice anymore. To get a computer to do what is described above is just not that advanced any longer, hell, we have private pilots we wouldn't trust our family with do this all the time.

Just imagine what 10 more years will look like.

Originally Posted by Varsity (Post 3137643)

You’re going to have some occasionally crazy events with computers and the outcomes will be abhorrent. One that comes to mind was the bramladge (spelling?) pilatus crash in Florida.

Many forget that thunderstorms are strong enough to tear an airplane apart, and his delayed weather radar made it a reality.

Originally Posted by Cyio (Post 3137650)

Yeah I get that, but the same can be said for many aircraft accidents prior to this that were due to pilot error, often two pilot error.

Originally Posted by kevin18 (Post 3137656)

All you have to do is look at the outrage every time a driverless car hits someone. Now, imagine a pilotless aircraft crashing. Our litigious society is not going to allow this to happen for years to come. I don't think I'll see it in my lifetime, which I'm hoping is at least another 40+ years. I certainly won't see it happening through my career. Testing for it, sure, implementation, no way.

Originally Posted by Cyio (Post 3137665)

Dont get me wrong, I hope you are right, I just dont know that you are. Time will tell on this one.

Originally Posted by Turbosina (Post 3137534)

Anybody see the new auto-divert / autolamd system that Garmin is rolling out on new Piper M600s (single engine turboprops) and other airframes? I flew one the other day and we tried it (with prior ATC approval, well outside congested airspace.)

It is amazing. Press one button during cruise flight and it goes into auto-divert mode. It calculates the best airport to divert to, taking into account weather, traffic, and runways. It broadcasts its intentions on the correct frequencies. Then it goes ahead and lands, and stops the airplane on the runway centerline.

That system is operational today in a small $2.8M turboprop. It works far better than I'd imagined. Unfortunately I think we're closer to the days of single-pilot (or no-pilot) 121 operations than most of us would like to believe.