This Small Aircraft Can Land Itself in an Emergency—Here’s What That’s Like
13th May 2025
When you’re flying in a small plane, the possibility of the pilot becoming incapacitated is usually filed in the very-unlikely-to-happen category. But it happens, and with no other pilot on board, outcomes range from a Hollywood best case—the air-traffic-control tower talking you through a safe landing—to much more devastating scenarios.
On a recent flight aboard a Cirrus SR22 in California’s Bay Area, we did more than explore the possibility. We created a situation in which pilot Ivy McIver (also executive director of the SR Series Product line) gave up control of the joystick to demonstrate how well Cirrus’s new Safe Return automatic landing system performs. Cirrus recently announced this adaptation of Garmin’s Autoland technology as the standout feature of its new SR Series G7+, shorthand for the seventh-plus generation of its SR20, SR22, and SR22T. An SR22 like the one we tested, retailing for $1,236,500, is also the world’s first single-engine piston aircraft with the Autoland system.
When McIver let go of the joystick control, instead of heroically grabbing the stick (Hollywood-style) to attempt a landing myself, I reached overhead and pushed the red button labeled “Safe Return.” Within seconds, the button triggered a complex network of automated motors, servos, communications systems, and AI-fueled algorithms.