Smilin'
This being the case, why do I get the feeling that many on this thread are concerned about either stalling or entering mach buffet and experiencing a loss of control?
I don't know. My AOM, (not for a 330 with center tanks), shows an optimum weight for a 4000ft climb from 310 to 350 for a M0.80 cruise as 237k kg's. I believe they were about 205k kgs if I recall so there is lots of room between stall and Mach buffet speeds - Mach buffet isn't an issue here nor is a stall between 0200 and 0214Z. We cannot say what happened after.
With a 100 knot difference, I wonder why a spurious stall warning wouldn't be easily recognized.
My "100kts" is an educated guess and not from the books, so it's in quotes. It could be 70 to 90 kts but it isn't 30 to 40kts. A spurious stall warning would likely be recognized because of the absence of buffet and air noise, (if the warning was false) but there was no stall warning in the time frame we have information for.
I get the feeling from many here that flying under these conditions is like trying to balance on a bowling ball.
In my view that feeling is unfounded. A 205k kg A330 at 350 even in heavy turbulence is a stable platform with lots of headroom. Been there.