Lonewolf - AoA is useful, but unless the 3 x IRS failed the crew would have had all they needed to fly - pitch and power. Admittedly a narrow band of pitch attitudes available, but easier to select than a fluctuating AoA
BOAC: I understand that. In the upset training I am familiar with, AoA is a primary scan item. I asked the question under the assumption that the problem is an upset, and a recovery of that upset under instrument scan (crosscheck?) which typically calls for a scan (crosscheck?) on critical instruments.
I recall the pitch and power discussions from a year ago and more. I was among those wondering why that fundemantal would not have been a solution set were the problem confined to the airspeed going unreliable. A/S unrealiable and upset takes us into a different problem to solve, depending upon the nature of the upset.
It will be interesting and enlightening (if the transcripts of CVR are ever in the public domain) to see if the "stall" audio warning was on, and for how long, during the upset in this case. I am operating under the assumption that were there not a stall at some point, plane would not have hit the ocean. The old "death spiral from vertigo" model in a multi place cockpit with experienced pilots seems an extremely remote, almost nil, possibility.