Cirrus has announced the launch of the new SR series G7+, the first piston-single aircraft to be equipped with Garmin’s Safe Return Emergency Autoland system.
For use in emergency situations such as pilot incapacitation, the Collier Award-winning system will assume control of the in-flight aircraft at the touch of a button, transmit emergency alerts to air traffic control, navigate to the nearest suitable airport, and land autonomously, all the while issuing instructions and status updates to passengers via the aircraft’s cockpit data screens. The system will then bring the aircraft to a stop on the runway center line, shut down the engine, and instruct occupants when it is safe to exit.
In instances where the pilot is the lone occupant, Safe Return will passively monitor their flight patterns, and if it detects an erratic or dangerous operation, it will first query the pilot before assuming control and landing the airplane. If a pilot regains the ability to safely aviate, they can disengage the system at any point.
Safe Return is now standard equipment on all new-build Cirrus SR Series G7+ airplanes, part of an upgrade suite that also includes automatic database updates powered by Cirrus IQ Pro, runway occupancy awareness, and smart pitot heat.
Autoland was first approved for use by the FAA in the Piper M600 SLS turboprop single in 2020, followed by the Daher TBM 940 (since proceeded by the TBM 960), Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet, and Beechcraft King Air 200 and 300-series turboprop twins.
Cirrus brings the technology to an “entry-level” piston aircraft for the first time, exposing a wider set of pilots and passengers to this technology.
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Only available for turboprops and jets, the market has been waiting for the first Garmin Emergency Autoland for piston-powered airplanes and Cirrus delivered the tech—six years later—in its latest SR G7+ series. This latest model in the Cirrus lineup has emergency autothrottle, new tech that can tame runway incursions, and IQ Pro—a smartphone app that takes the flying and ownership experience to a higher level in safety and automation. For owners with sites on moving into the Cirrus Vision Jet, the flight deck in the new SR G7 models mimics the jet cockpit.
In this report that follows the June 2025 flight report in Aviation Consumer Magazine, Editor in Chief Larry Anglisano along with Cirrus' Ivy McIver had cams rolling for a Safe Return activation in a 2025 Safe Return-equipped SR22 G7+ for a landing at New York's Stewart International Airport.
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- I don't know why this got recommended to me, but it's really freaking cool. I would love to see an uncut video demonstrating this. Have a passenger push the button, then show the pilot doing nothing for the entire time after until landing.
- Great work. If the button isn’t somewhere the pilot can reach, it would be a good idea to add another emergency auto land button in the cockpit. I could see this being very useful if a solo pilot starts having chest pains or a stroke.
- Beautiful aircraft, our company was going to buy one, but the price was way out of reality, they ended up with a Cessna TTX, a great aircraft in its own right and faster than a Cirrus..
- When my invention becomes a provisional and utility patent. And protected world wide from intellectual theft. I would love to buy a Cirrus Jet!
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