I knew a guy who flew HS 748's for Emerald airways around 2001.......a UK contract/ad-hoc cargo operation that mostly operated at night.
He pretty much flew permanent night shifts, and I once commented to him that it must be nice flying when it's quiet everywhere. He replied that it would be, but half the fleet of 748's had inop autopilots, and they hand flew the sectors most of the time.
The outfit lost it's AOC a few years after and was wound up.