[fingpilot]

Jeff;

In a perfect world, that might pencil out. The autopilot only looks to keep the wings level, all other things being equal (on course).

If the fuel was imbalanced (possible if the FE and the rest of the crew was asleep) would still be seen by the autopilot as a wing low situation, and it would apply ROLL corrections in the flight control programmed order for the present flight configuration.

A yaw out of trim situation would be seen by the autopilot as a deviation from course centerline effort, and would apply ROLL to correct for this. Even a really bad yaw (mistrim of the rudder, or engine out) would produce a constant ROLL correction by the autopilot, deflecting the inboard aileron, and perhaps the opposite wing spoilers only. There was a close call a couple of years ago of a 747 on departure from SFO that lost an engine at MaxGrossWeight on takeoff, and the pilot applied aileron to couteract the yaw and roll from the dead engine. The resulting spoilers destroyed much needed lift, and the airplane sank back to the ground below the horizon from the tower. Someone remembered basic systems, and got on the rudder, neutralized the aileron input and managed to get flying again. The tower had already pushed the crash alarm.

The autopilot has no yaw input other than the yaw damping function.

The picture is of an unusual situation. It should not be that way, but obviously was on this flight.