Finally, it should be said that a stall is a temporarily uncontrolled, but usually recoverable condition, provided the pilot recognizes it and takes the right actions. The stall is identified by buffet of increasing intensity, usually becoming so intense that, in regulatory language, it is an effective deterrent to further reduction of speed or increase of load factor.
For Hazelnuts:
You raise a couple of questions:
1) Could stall buffet be mistaken for turbulence associated with a CB?
If so, how long would it take an aircrew to realize "Hey, this is a stall, not heavy turbulence" and begin to initiate corrective action?
2) What if, worst case, crew is riding/fighting buffet for quite a while ("Blast it, we are in the storm, it's really rough!") not realizing they are stalled ... due to A/S input being unreliable ... you then arrive at an altitude where the A/S input (pitot tubes no longer iced?????) gets sorted out and crew need X seconds to recognize "Hey, that ain't turbulence, we are stalled!" and get on with corrective action ... (this recalls to mind a post over a year ago about stall training, not sure who posted it)
All things combined, the conclusion could be that it is not likely that the airplane stalled at 2:10, and remained stalled all the way down to the surface.
OK, with that in mind, and the above as a possible way events play out, a stalled A330 typically falls at what rate? What you suggest is that with a high rate of descent, instrument conditions, and a crew playing catch up to a stalled heavy, by the time of stall recovery, Rate of Descent and altitude at time of recovery were insufficient to avoid water impact ... or,
crew had to do a recovery from unusual attitude as well as stall recovery, so by the time they were able to recover, get level, and try to arrest rate of descent ... water impact occurred.
Is that what you had in mind when you suggested that the aircraft did not remain stalled all the way down to the surface?
EDIT: I went back and finally found your post in the other thread, where you commented on "Flying the Big Jets" and the vertical velocity figures of 9,000 to 14,000 fpm for a stalled heavy.