Originally Posted by
ace4059
Not a direct answer, but I know some of the new, smaller, and expensive aircraft have an emergency button that will automatically land the plane. It automatically sends a distress call, locates the closest airport with adequate runway, changes course, and lands all with the push of one button. I think it’s one small jet and a few turboprops like the TBM 940/960 have this optional feature. But you have to be conscious to push the button. Also a lot of the larger commercial jets have “auto land” capabilities but that requires a large amount on input from the pilots. That’s different from just a one button push for an emergency landing.
Then I know there are a few others when set to auto pilot, there is essentially an alerter. But instead of terms of a train where it would put it in suppression and stop a train, on these planes any button with flight control has to be pressed every x number minutes to “reset the alerter” or the plane is programmed to assume an unresponsive crew from a depressurization and descend to a lower altitude in hopes they regain consciousness. I think those are programmed to fly straight and level at 15k feet.
I’m sure others with more knowledge will chime in.
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