Blackhawk Aerospace Technologies has completed the first installation of Garmin’s Autoland system and a full Garmin G1000 NXi suite in a King Air 200, which has been delivered to the customer. The Autoland installation includes Garmin autothrottles.
Autoland automatically selects a suitable airport, flies the airplane to the airport—including maneuvering to lose altitude and fly an RNAV approach—lands, then shuts off the engines. The Autoland button is mounted on the aft console in the King Air 200 installation so it is easily reached by the pilot or passengers. In case of inadvertent activation, pilots can disable the Autoland event and continue flying.
The autothrottles help pilots manage engine limitations such as over-temp and over-torque, prevent flap overspeed, and add or reduce power in underspeed or overspeed conditions, respectively.
"While King Airs are known for their versatility, they can sometimes be demanding for the crew. Autothrottle and Autoland increase the pilot’s bandwidth for added operational safety,” said Blackhawk v-p of sales and marketing Conrad Theisen.