Embraer Phenom 300 Completes Brazil's First Autonomous Emergency Landing by a Business Jet in Garmin Autoland Certification Trials

The first autonomous emergency landing by a business jet in Brazil took place at Gavião Peixoto airport, in the interior of São Paulo state. It was flown aboard the Embraer Phenom 300 registered PP-XVJ, the first aircraft produced of the series. The images appear in a new video Embraer published about the certification campaign for the Garmin Emergency Autoland on the Phenom 300EV, the latest version of its light jet.

The system can be activated autonomously, or by a button pressed by a passenger or by the pilot when the crew is not fit to fly. Once active, it takes full control of the aircraft: it commands the primary surfaces (ailerons, elevator and rudder), manages engine power, selects the most suitable airport and reports the aircraft's position to air traffic control until it brings the aircraft to a stop on the runway.

The capability rests on the Multi-Purpose Electronic Controller (MEC), a new onboard computer debuting on the 300EV. Embraer project manager Bruno Macedo said the MEC allows not only Garmin's Autoland but also technologies unique in a light jet, such as automatic braking and the fly-by-wire rudder control system, with the aircraft's directional control integrated into the fly-by-wire system.

ANAC, the FAA and EASA certified the Phenom 300EV in August, about a month after its unveiling in July. It became the first light jet and the largest business aircraft cleared with Emergency Autoland. The model also incorporates autothrottle, autobrake, Emergency Descent Mode and the Runway Overrun Awareness and Alerting System (ROAAS), all on the Prodigy Touch flight deck based on the Garmin G3000. It reaches Mach 0.80 and has a range of 2,055 nautical miles with four passengers and NBAA IFR reserves. Embraer plans first deliveries in 2028.

Gavião Peixoto is one of Embraer's main industrial centres. It houses the Embraer and Saab plants dedicated to military aircraft, carries out the initial production of the Phenom line (whose final assembly is in the United States) and builds the Praetor family of business jets.

Garmin introduced Autoland in October 2019, and the FAA first approved it in 2020 on the Piper M600. The system has since moved from single-engine turboprops to piston aircraft and jets; in February this year the HondaJet Elite II became the first twinjet certified with the technology. More than 2,500 aircraft are now equipped with it.

The first real-world use came on December 20, 2025, when a Beechcraft King Air B200 of Buffalo River Aviation suffered a depressurisation after taking off from Aspen. Garmin's systems activated automatically when cabin altitude exceeded safe levels.

The Phenom 300EV places Emergency Autoland in the light-jet class, one of the most heavily flown segments of business aviation. Garmin's system has moved step by step from single-engine turboprops to piston aircraft, then jets, and a type with this much volume behind it widens the base of aircraft where pilot-incapacitation protection exists.

For the segment, the MEC matters as much as the headline feature. Putting autobrake, fly-by-wire rudder control and Autoland on one new computer suggests that autonomy is becoming part of how new airframes are architected, not a retrofit. Competing light-jet makers will be compared against that baseline when they specify their own cockpits.

The next dated milestone is Embraer's plan for first deliveries in 2028, when operators will start flying the 300EV and the system's performance outside certification conditions can be observed.