Garmin designed Smart Glide to help pilots deal with engine failures by recommending a suitable nearby airport and engaging the autopilot to fly to that airport at the appropriate glide airspeed. The Smart Glide upgrade, the newest member of Garmin’s Autonomi family of safety products, is free for owners of compatible avionics, although there may be a dealer fee for installation of the software.
The key benefit of Smart Glide is to allow the pilot to concentrate on dealing with the engine problem and the resulting emergency situation. While running the engine-failure checklist, for example, the pilot doesn’t have to focus on finding the nearest airport. Even if there is no suitable airport within gliding distance, Smart Glide can still use the Garmin autopilot to adjust the attitude for best glide speed and then during the off-airport approach and touchdown gives the pilot audible alerts about the airplane’s altitude above the ground.
To demonstrate how Smart Glide works, Garmin pilot Jessica Koss took me on a flight in the company A36 Bonanza from Garmin’s flight test facility at New Century Aircenter in Olathe, Kansas.
Smart Glide is available on GTN Xi navigators paired with Garmin’s G500/G600 TXi and G3X displays and GI 275 and G5 electronic flight instruments, plus experimental G3X Touch systems. The experimental G3X Touch doesn’t require the GTN; however, it is required for the certified G3X Touch.
The Bonanza is equipped with Garmin TXi touchscreen displays, GTN 750 Xi and 650 Xi navigators, and GFC 600 autopilot.
We took off and climbed to 3,500 feet agl and headed south. Terrain in this area is about 1,000 ft msl. For the first demo, Koss pulled the engine’s power back as we flew near Miami County Airport, then she pushed the optional ($129) Smart Glide button on the Bonanza’s instrument panel to engage the system. The button isn’t required, and pilots can also engage Smart Glide by pushing the direct-to button on the navigator for two seconds.
If equipped with a compatible Garmin autopilot such as the GFC 500 or 600, when Smart Glide is activated, it will automatically engage the autopilot in IAS mode at best glide speed, switch the CDI to GPS mode, and activate the flight director command bars. Third-party autopilots can be used with Smart Glide, but the pilot will have to switch it on and select the appropriate mode for lateral guidance, according to Garmin.
With or without the autopilot, Smart Glide displays a direct-to route to the recommended airport, and the map page on the GTN Xi shows a glide range ring with airports within gliding distance. The ring adjusts dynamically to account for wind and terrain and it also shows—in a decluttered view—current altitude above ground level (agl), estimated agl at arrival, bearing, and distance to the airport.
A dedicated Smart Glide page is also available, which shows glide speed, airport name, a list of alternate airports (from which the pilot can choose if needed), arrival agl, longest runway information and wind components (if available), and an alert banner that gives information on glide status and pertinent instructions. For the demo, we had the map and glide ring running on the larger GTN 750 Xi and the dedicated status page on the smaller GTN 650 Xi, giving us more than enough information to figure out how to land safely.
The criteria for picking the recommended airport is based on runway length and condition, proximity, terrain, and weather information that the system gleans from sources such as ADS-B In (FIS-B), SiriusXM, and Garmin Connext, as well as measured winds calculated by the PFD. Smart Glide also considers VFR or IFR conditions when recommending a suitable airport, according to Garmin, for aircraft equipped with a Garmin GTX 345/345R transponder, GTX 375 acting as a transponder, GSR 56 Iridium transceiver, or GDL 69/69A SiriusXM satellite weather receiver with an appropriate weather subscription.
Even if there is no suitable airport within gliding distance, Smart Glide uses the Garmin autopilot to adjust the attitude for best glide speed, and then during the off-airport approach and landing gives the pilot audible alerts about the altitude. In this case, Smart Glide displays a message to indicate “No Airport in Range.” If an airport does get covered by the glide range ring during the glide, then the pilot can steer toward that airport or have Smart Glide do so by switching on the autopilot.
In addition to the information displayed on the avionics, Smart Glide provides aural messages such as bearing and distance to the airport. Once it selects the airport, it also sets that airport’s CTAF or tower frequency into the standby field and switches the CDI to GPS mode plus gives the pilot a shortcut to switch the transponder to the 7700 emergency code.
The system warns the pilot with an aural alert and visual banner at 4 nm to the airport, then at 2 nm advises the pilot to take over control with an audible position alert and flashing red alert (on the GTN Xi). As we got closer to the airport, we heard the alerts and saw the red “Maneuver and Land” banner, indicating that it was time for the pilot to take over from the autopilot, pick a runway, and land.
Smart Glide doesn’t pick the optimal runway and leaves that decision up to the pilot. Its primary purpose is to get the crippled airplane to the airport vicinity while reducing the pilot’s workload. Once near the airport, the pilot has to select the optimal runway then land.
Glide range rings are nothing new; they have been available on moving-map apps like ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot for a while. But especially in an airplane without a parachute, knowing exactly where to go and getting guidance and assistance on setting up the glide and turning promptly in the right direction could go a long way toward improving the odds of surviving an engine-out emergency.