/Quote GreatBear
occurred in a very short timespan? Short enough not to influence the 0200 to 0210 distance traveled segment?
Hmm, without change in attitude this seems technically not feasible to me given the SEP of an A330 @210t at FL350.
That will take 'ages' to get it to Mcrit given a constant level attitude (>10min).
Had it left that level attitude before than something was pear shaped anyway.
Or they pushed the nose down due to a perceived risk of a stall.
Either way you see it a subtle Mcrit encounter without preceding event seems not very likely (at least to me).
However, an Mcrit encounter after an initial LoC seems absolutely possible.