Though one might on why he fell asleep in the first place.

But if he fall asleep due to exhaustion because his work, I hope that he would just get off with a light disclipinary action. Flying is quite exhausting not due physical actions, but due to the constant attention.

Though if he regulary fall asleep in his work, maybe he should decided a change in carrer?

Of course, there are differences between taking a nap and falling asleep. Pilots like to take a nap (they need to, especially in long flights), but they're not supposed to fall asleep.


As for a dead man switch feature in a 747.

Older aircrafts (think propellers) might have this kind of feature, but not in a 747.

Though with all of the automation these days, it would be interesting incase all the pilots are all incapacitated and there's no one flying the craft, the computer will bring down the craft on the nearest runway, unless of course the computer decided that the craft should land on a building. Who ever hear a computer landing a Boeing 767 on a building?



As for long non-stop flights.

I think that they have at least two crew shifts for long non-stop flights. So there might be around three to four pilots (2 Captains and 2 Pilots) onboard in a long flight.

In long multiple stops flight on the other hand, the shift change was done while the aircraft is on the ground.