First - A33'a tidbit scares the hell outta me.
the servocontrolsfall in re-centering mode.
The elevator becomes a 'fixed' part of the THS. (=MAN PITCH TRIM ONLY)
Deja vu one more time. Exactly what the Viper did if the confusers all failed ( in our case, it was total power loss to them, and the FCS folks were afraid the things would melt. We voted to keep them running if the main power supply had an overvoltage - let the suckers melt). Otherwise, the stabilators went to a neutral setting, and this meant 10 to 20 negative gees within a second!! Ask Wolfman, who survived one of those incidents back in 1981.
I do not fault the crew for training, or lack thereof. This was one in a thousand or more of "loss of pitot system" incidents. When I say that some jets enter the stall gracefully, I don't mean you can't feel SOMETHING. But with the storms and such, and the "bus great aero, the buffet could have been masked. Until the final report is out, I can't believe the pilots held back stick for 3 minutes. Shoot, just let go and watch for 30 seconds, then DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. The OODA loop. From a pilot perspective flying at conditions unheard of in the heavies, I learned when a buffet meant "close to stall", or "prolly in a stall", or whoa!!! I had many students that could not "feel" the increase in buffet as I could. Bothered me, but some have "touch" and some don't.
Until I see a pitch moment chart of the 'bus with various THS angles of incidence, I shall continue to believe that a sustained nose down input could have helped at the outset. Once into a deep stall, all bets are off. The c.p. moves a lot, and as with the Viper, maybe a max up command could result in an attitude change, then put in max down and "rock" the thing outta the stall. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!