Bug smasher,
I'm not getting on your case here but your statement that the MD doesn't have all the flight envelope protection schemes...
Pitch rate limiting
Pitch attitude limiting
LSAS speed protection over and under
LSAS stall protection
Auto throttle speed protection
Auto throttle stall protection
LSAS nose lowering
Flap limiting
Etc. Etc.
It is as advanced as the 777 in all aspects except the 1 big one, the WING, which is why Honeywell had to do such an excellent job on the automatic systems. I don't know if you fly the MD but if you don't, next time you see a DC-10 and MD-11, compare the horizontal stab size. It's scary how much they took off, 35%.
That saying, all these protection schemes deal with one aspect, pitch attitude, which is a repeating factor in MD-11 accidents/incidents.