Thanks, OG and Retired.
The thing I have been trying to get across since I was accepted by this august body is the underlying control algorithms and their implementation are not clearly explained in the FCOM's that I have ( flare mode one exception, maybe).
I still see pilots talking about the pitch attitude implementation as if the control law was only a rate command. As Winner and Palmer pointed out, the jet uses both rate and gee to get the nose moving. Once you let off the stick, the jet adjusts the rate/gee command "corrected for pitch attitude" . You get what seems to be attitude hold, and until you have several failures you stay at the last pitch before releasing the stick. Would seem to me that a pitch rate command of zero would apply when not pulling or pushing the stick. You would still get actual movement of the elevator, and then the THS to maintain zero rate, however.
That surface movement was what I demonstrated to all my students. Our rate function was minimal at normal speeds, so it was almost all the gee. Since we could trim for a gee, we would move the manual trim wheel all the way back for about 3.5 gees command while holding forward stick. At a realistic speed we neutralized the stick and the jet would do a beautiful loop. As speed slowed, AoA went up and stopped at the limit. We then rode the AoA limiter over the top and down the back side until 3.5 gees. All the while you could look back and see the horizontal tail "trimming" until it reached the mechanical stop, then going back to its original position as speed increased on the back side.
So that's what happened to the 'bus, Doze. The THS would have kept moving even with a neutral stick ( pitch) to reduce elevator position. I don't feel the elevator would have to be "maxed out", but the system would try to reduce its position just like we used to do with manual trim wheels and actual mechanical "feel" to our yoke/wheel/stick.
The insidious effect of the implementation and the lack of speed/AoA stability until in direct law was a very big player. And no AoA protection!!! So the jet flew right into the stall once at the pitch attitude, and the pilot's pitch inputs might only have been important if nose down for several seconds ( as we have seen by those here in the sims).
Glad to see enough here understand the longitudinal stability issues.