Huck
To say a little more about MDC philosophy, selecting AFS off is to select "AFS OVERIDE" suspecting as the only option to holding the disconnect button. The aircraft was designed for autoflight, given lSAS/ELF and flap limit remained enguaged unless manually disabled.
Never flew with any MD-11 drivers WOA/Gemini who had a big deal with it. The only time I saw a CWS breakover was during windshear.
Biggest gripe I heard from the guys (and felt) was it's inability to slow down when light. We used to do S.A. ops flower runs and often flew one way freight. I remember many tooth filling/vibrating desents when light.
Here at the purple Mecca as well now now and miss the old experience but enjoy the stability of this corperate giant.
It sux to get a inbound AFS call here on a L.P., when in the old world I could have seen and experienced the failure first hand.