Private Aviation Aircraft Get Safety Upgrades In Cockpits

Business aircraft orders, deliveries and revenue continue to improve year over year despite the pressures from global supply chain disruptions, tariffs and geopolitical tensions. In the most recent financials, one major OEM described 2025 as “solid order flow across the product portfolio.” Another said they saw “improved interest across all models in all sales jurisdictions.” By all indications, 2026 will follow suit.

The growth is a direct reflection of the outstanding benefits of private aviation as a time saver and an efficiency booster for businesses. Enabling this growth are the highly refined business aircraft featured in this year’s Purchase Planning Handbook—your engineering guide to the latest and greatest offerings for business aviation operators.

In With The New

New to the handbook this year are several aircraft model upgrades that focus on new cockpits with safety enhancing features. Starting from the light end, Cirrus is now offering the new G7+ versions of the Cirrus SR20, SR22 and SR22T piston singes, all of which now include emergency autoland capability. In the turboprop area, Epic is now offering the Epic E1000AX with an upgraded Garmin-equipped cockpit with autoland capability through the Garmin G1000NXi integrated avionics. Pilatus is marketing a major cockpit upgrade for the PC-12 with the new Pro package that includes a Garmin 3000 Prime-based avionics suite with emergency autoland. Daher in early January this year unveiled the TBM 980, which also includes Garmin G3000 Prime-based avionics and the emergency autoland feature.

The venerable DeHavilland Twin Otter received a makeover with the introduction of the Twin Otter Classic 300, now with Garmin G1000NXi avionics. Between the new avionics and interior options, the aircraft is almost 300 lb. lighter than the Twin Otter 400 Series.

Not yet certified are the Beechcraft Denali and Gulfstream G400, represented by blue tint and italicized font in the Airplane Charts.

In the newly certified category, Textron in late 2025 achieved certification for Citation CJ3 Gen 2 and the Citation Ascend business jets. Gulfstream in April gained FAA and EASA certification for the G800.

Gone from the tables are the Gulfstream G650 and G650ER, Dassault Falcon 900LX and Bombardier Global 7500, replaced with more modern and technologically advanced aircraft.

The Technology Edge

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in modernization given the safety and efficiency benefits. This was highlighted in December 2025 when the crew of a Beechcraft King Air B200 with a Garmin flight deck executed a flawless autoland after the crew of two pilots experienced a rapid decompression when climbing through 23,000 ft. on departure from Aspen, Colorado, during a repositioning flight. Although the crew was not incapacitated, they allowed the Garmin Emergency Descent Mode to take control and guide it to an automatic landing at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. The incident has raised questions about when healthy crews should disable the automatic landing system, but it marked the first in-service application of the technology.

“This incident validates Emergency Autoland as a real-world safety tool,” the website King Air Nation explained. “While pilots remain essential, the system adds an extra layer of protection in high-stress or time-critical emergencies. In the future, this technology could be a life-saving backup in more severe scenarios, giving crews—and passengers—added confidence that modern automation can intervene when it matters most.”

As mentioned earlier, autoland capability is expanding in the bizav portfolio, now available from the factory on the Cirrus SR20, SR22 and SR22T as well as the Epic E1000AX, Pilatus PC-12 Pro and new TBM 980. The tech was already an option on the Cirrus Vision Jet, Piper M600 and M700, and Daher TBM 960. On Feb. 4, Honda announced that it had received FAA approval for emergency autoland on the HondaJet Elite II. Cessna will offer the feature on its Garmin-equipped Citation Gen 3 business jets, currently in development.

And while there are always challenges to contend with, safety is tightly coupled to the introduction of new technology. “It is important that we continue working to advocate for and preserve the economic opportunities and societal benefits that the global general aviation industry provides,” said Jim Viola, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, “along with the ongoing safety and technological advancements that will propel the industry into the future.”

This Is How We Do It

As in previous years, we updated the PPH by asking the aircraft manufactur­ers to review and refresh the previous year’s data—or to add new models— using a standard format we provide in a six-page “How To” manual that includes a BCA Required Equipment List (see table). Production-conforming aircraft that have completed first flight by Jan. 31 can be listed in the table, but the numbers are denoted in blue, italicized font to indicate preliminary data.

Our goal is to give you—the buyer, the owner, the flight department and chief pilot—a clear picture of the engi­neering tradeoffs that come with every aircraft design choice. We go above and beyond the spec sheets that you find online to give you a comprehensive picture of the performance you can expect for the types of missions that business aviation operators typically conduct.

Enjoy, and as always, if you have comments or questions please reach out to us at [email protected].