May 2020:Garden City Airport located in Garden City, Kansas played a significant role in the flight certification of the Piper M600/SLS aircraft with autoland capability making Piper Aircraft as the first OEM to achieve certification of any autoland system in a general aviation. Looking at the location and proximity to other airports, the Garden City Airport was chosen as the ideal location in 2019.
Delighted at the successful certification and thanking the airport for their support Eric Wright, Piper Aircraft Senior Director of Aircraft Certification and Compliance said, "Airports like Garden City are the corner stone of the general aviation community which do an outstanding job supporting our industry. It has been our great pleasure to help highlight the role that Garden City has played in the advancement of technology for general aviation."
"Last week's successful certification flight highlights the importance of regional airports and reminds us that airports, such as Garden City, not only have an intrinsic value to the local economy but also play a key role in General Aviation throughout the country," said Rachelle Powell, Aviation Director at Garden City Airport.
The certification test was conducted on 5th May 2020, the team launched from Vero Beach, Florida with a planned stop in Tulsa, OK before proceeding to Garden City for the certification flight test. The aircraft performed exactly as expected.