Vertiflite May/June 2021

THE VERTICAL FLIGHT SOCIETY Letters

Autoland In the March 2021 edition of Flying magazine, the lead article addresses the candidates for this year’s Flying Innovation Awards, given each year to the most significant new products or developments in advancing the art of aviation. The lead candidate this year is the Garmin Autonomi system, their suite of integrated avionics and aircraft systems for automatically landing general aviation aircraft if the pilot-in-command becomes unable to perform the duties of his or her position. In May 2020, Halo (Piper’s version of Autonomi) became operational on the M600 single-engine turboprop airplane. Two months later another single-engine turboprop, the Daher TBM 940, began rolling off the production line with their version, which they call HomeSafe. Finally in September of last year, the G2 version of the Cirrus Vision Jet (the earlier version did not have the required autothrottle) was certified by the FAA with their Safe Return system. By whatever name, the Garmin Autonomi system functions the same: Upon activation by the pilot or a passenger, said system automatically navigates the aircraft to a suitable airport within range, and lands. One may therefore ask: Would it be possible for Garmin to devise an autoland system for helicopters? Unlike fixed-wing aircraft, an autoland system for helicopters need not restrict emergency landings to airports with sufficiently long runways. Any large enough open clearing will do. In cases similar to the Kobe Bryant tragedy, if the pilot in command realizes he or she has blundered into [inadvertent Instrument meteorological conditions] another option for autoland emergency landings is wherever that S-76 was supposed to go anyway. Regards for all VFS does, Alex Kovnat W. Bloomfield Township, Michigan USA Member Since 2003 Sikorsky has demonstrated autonomous capabilities on its S-76 Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft (SARA) and S-70 Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Black Hawk, and has fielded its Rig Approach fully coupled and automated approach capability on the S-92, certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2013 and by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in 2015. To date, however, there are no other commercial applications of a helicopter autoland capability. – Ed.

Support VFF Scholarships! The Society's philanthropic arm, the Vertical Flight Foundation (VFF), was established in 1967 and today provides $100,000 of annual merit- based scholarships for engineers interested in careers in vertical flight. The Foundation's awards are made possible thanks to the generosity and support of our contributors. The Society gratefully acknowledges the contributions made to VFF over the preceding two months: Bill Welsh $1,000.00 In Memory of James “Jim” Howlett Anatoly Kogan $500.00 In Memory of Marat Tischenko Kent Johnson $125.00 Joanne Fang $100.00 In Memory of James “Jim” Howlett Michael Hanlon $100.00 In Memory of James “Jim” Howlett Berend van der Wall $100.00 Roy Wagner $67.02 Nancy Soma $60.00 In Memory of Jack Fetsko Steve Zalesch $54.00 Jennifer Ewing $50.09 In Memory of James “Jim” Howlett Robert Bill $50.00 Edward and Irene Cowern $50.00 In Memory of James “Jim” Howlett Bradley Miller $50.00 Jeff Purse $50.00 Chris Snyder $50.00 Bob Fortenbaugh $50.00 Cindy Golia, Alex Kovnat, Donald Spinks and Lorraine Tantorski also made contributions. Please consider supporting the future leaders of vertical flight with a scholarship donation today! Go to www.vtol.org/VFF .

May / June 2021

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