I remember a 2011 conference paper, "Some Thoughts on Reducing the Risk of Aircraft Loss of Control", where Bateman described some of his ideas for further improving flight safety. I'd say that on a "revolutionary" (or "controversial") scale from 1 to 10, he covered the whole range. Examples include:
- Use GPS data to detect when the aircraft is lining up for takeoff, then warn about flaps if necessary.
- Improved guidance for upset recovery: In an unusual attitude a big curved arrow appears on the PFD, meaning "roll this way to level wings".
- The speed tape on today's EFIS is wrong, it should be flipped upside down, to prevent pilots from intuitively pitching down in an overspeed situation. [1]
- Let EGPWS overrule the pilot (a bit like Airbus normal law already does for AoA protection), so that the plane cannot make ground contact anywhere except on a runway included in the database. [2]
http://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/1372.pdf
[1] To be fair, he admits that this design detail has been discussed and settled back in the 1980s, and changing it might cause confusion of its own.
[2] No, I'm not making this up. It's there, on page 13 in the conference paper. And Honeywell has already demonstrated, in a real airplane, automatic recoveries from near-CFIT situations.