Do you think that if they saw the VSI and altitude tapes (and in the QZ case, also the airspeed tape) and incorporated that information into a picture of the airplane's state, that could have had an effect on the outcome?
As I said I don't like to discuss 447 because this topic will hijack the thread again. Since you asked
447 and 8501 although the result is same the situation is different. AF447 they hadn't undergone any training for UAS. In the ungodly hour of midnight over the Atlantic, in IMC, Airspeed gone they were not going to device a procedure. We are not birds so in the air we can act out of our training, learnt habits but if fear washes out the conscious layer there are no instincts to guide a human to safety. The speed was lost only for one minute. But the crew's cognitive ability was gone. They stopped seeing anything, they stopped hearing anything, they stopped feeling anything but just kept doing something with their hand that had nothing to do with present situation. The only chance they had was that they froze and didn't do anything. May be the Aircraft would have descended on its own and in warmer temperatures icing would have gone. If they could see altitude then why not they also feel the stall buffet, also hear the stall warning? There's no point 447 has been beaten to death.