Xavion Brings a Real-World Airplane Down to 10 Feet Above the Ground

Tyler Young

Engine failed? There’s an app for that.

The video below was taken by Austin Meyer, creator of X-Plane and Xavion, the iPad app that helps real-world pilots fly safer. It shows off a feature coming soon to the Xavion app—the ability to not just guide a pilot down to a landing, but to actually fly the plane itself down to about 10 feet above the runway!

In the video, you’ll see Austin’s iPad guiding a crippled RV-10 down to safety… without human intervention. The iPad is running a development version of Xavion talking to a Tru-Trak autopilot over wi-fi. Xavion, running on the iPad, can take over the airplane in distress and guide it down to safety!

This feature will be available in Xavion in the near future, after we’ve tested it a few hundred more times in a handful of airplanes.

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