A HA! A small piece of the aviation world that I can attest to....
I have flown MD-11's with the CWS activated, at Gemini. I fly them now with the CWS deactivated, at FDX.
CWS on the MD11 is only in roll (as I recall). CWS on the DC10 is in pitch and roll.
The theory is that you are inputting your desired attitude into the autopilot - using the aircraft. I roll 10 degrees bank, let go and it holds ten degrees bank.
The only folks I've heard that didn't think it was a complete waste of avionics rack space were tanker guys on the KC10. Evidently it made it much easier to fly with pointy jets attached to your tail.
The downsides were many. The biggest one to me was this insane breakout force to move the ailerons manually - something like three pounds. No way to finesse the aircraft at all.
And there wasn't an approved way to turn it off. I used to just turn off the "paddle" switches and kill all the LSAS with it - until I got a letter from the chief pilot.....
A nasty system, but perfectly in line with McDonnell's philosophy of a push-button airplane. After many many accidents, tailstrikes and close calls we've now as an industry come to the realization that an MD-11 must be flown - as in hand-flown - by real pilots with all their stuff in one sock....