I'd like to hear what the actual pilots feel about this situation. They have some experience in turbulence. Would turbulence that would toss passengers, food, and food carts around the cabin leave the pilots "steady enough" to assume manual flight control? Should the pilots try to maintain manual control under those conditions?
It would be very difficult to keep control of the aircraft. Lufthansa was very lucky and could have ended in the same situation as AF did.
Keeping control of the aircraft would be a challenge..........if you can still read the instruments that is.
This is why, you are much better off keeping clear of any kind of weather, regardless of time and fuel.
Our american colleagues may be annoying reporting the slightest baby burp over the atlantic.................but it is them who are right. Turbulence and weather are dangerous and a lot or some of us seem to have forgotten that.
I remember a captain years ago when I was F/O who told me about a flight he'd be on over the Andes. They hit one hell of a wave sending their 747 freighter up at 5000 ft / min.............throttles retarded until they hit the same wave on the down way..................5000 ft/ min with throttles burried in the dashboard. The jet system was over the Andes and the captain he was flying with didn't want to take the alternate route ( south ) because he didn't want to " waste " the 15/20 minutes extra flying time. The beauty is that nobody asked him not to !!
As brillantly demonstrated by Tim Vasquez, MSC systems are to be reckonned with.