Originally Posted by
HowardB
On trains you have a dead man's handle that stops the train if the driver doesn't respond. While stopping a plane is not possible (unless its fitted with the new emergency divert/land system), surely its not beyond the bounds of possibility that something to wake the crew could be installed on the flight deck to generate an alarm if it is not responded to?
They exist....some types have a function as part of the general warning system that monitors the the interval between crew input to several systems on the flight deck.
If there was nil crew activity for too long (defined period, varied on phase of flight) it gave the crew a quiet nudge (e.g. EICAS message "Crew Response"), If that didn't trigger a button push from the crew then it escalates to a very noisy warning.