Honda Aircraft Company has completed Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification flight testing for its Emergency Autoland (EAL) system on the HondaJet Elite II under Type Inspection Authorisation (TIA). The aircraft is expected to become the first twin turbine very light business jet equipped with Emergency Autoland.

The TIA confirmed that the aircraft and its systems met all design and safety requirements and were ready for final evaluation by FAA test pilots. Completion of these tests paved the way for full certification and future deployment of the system.

If a pilot becomes incapacitated, Emergency Autoland can send a distress signal to air traffic control and then use automated controls to guide the aircraft to land safely at an airport.

“Emergency Autoland was one of the first programmes we announced when I assumed leadership of Honda Aircraft Company and I’m incredibly proud of our engineers for their commitment to realise this capability for our customers,” says Honda Aircraft Company president and CEO Hideto Yamasaki. “We sincerely appreciate the patience of our customers and are very excited to be so close to certification for our HondaJet Elite II aircraft.”

Emergency Autoland will be a key feature of the HondaJet Elite II, building on the autothrottle certification achieved in October 2024.